Monaco: I started to trust in my game
Originally published on: 25/06/12 00:00
In his four previous appearances at the All England Club, the 28-year-old from Tandil had never won a match. He fell to Mikhail Youzhny and Nicolas Almagro in five sets on his last two visits, in 2011 and 2009, lost to lowly-ranked Belgian Kristof Vilegen in 2007, and was beaten by Novak Djokovic on his main draw debut in 2005.
A 6-4 7-6(5) 7-6(5) victory over his fellow Argentine finally turned the tide, although his reaction to finally winning a match at the third Grand Slam of the year was, by his own admission, surprisingly low-key.
“I didn’t react, I don’t know why, maybe it was confidence,” Monaco told tennishead. “I had a big chance to win today and I’m so happy about that.
“This tournament for me is very difficult. The last two years that I played I lost in five sets against Almagro, then Youzhny. I was a little bit unlucky with the draw. This year I changed my mindset a little bit and said ‘why not? I can win, same as the Spanish guys'. [David] Ferrer won a tournament last week on grass [in ‘s-Hertogenbosch], Rafa [Nadal] won two tournaments here. Why not me?”
“I started to trust a little bit in my game and I won today,” added Monaco. “Lets see how it goes after tomorrow.”
Monaco faces Frenchman Jeremy Chardy, who he has beaten in three of their four tour-level meetings, in round two.
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