Gael Monfils

France is my home.

The dream is to win a Grand Slam and that is what I'm playing for and training for. It's tough, but I believe that maybe one day I'll be lucky enough to win one.

It's not easy to recover from jet lag.

Well, sometimes I just feel like I want a Coke, you know? And I drink a Coke.

For me tennis is a sport, you know? It's not a job, it's a sport.

Grass is not natural for me, but I am getting better. I have to focus on not falling, not injuring myself. I cannot take off as fast as I want to and I have problems braking.

When I dive for a ball I'm not diving because it looks spectacular - I'm trying win the point. When I jump it's because it's easy for me to jump. I'm not being cocky but because I can jump higher than other people it looks more spectacular. Other players smash but I go higher so it looks different.

Like all designers, sometimes my mood can be very flashy, but sometimes it can be dark. Or happier. It all depends on my mood.

I am strong, the crowd makes me even stronger when they are on fire, I love to be with them, they give me focus so I just relax and play.

It's always something special with me. You never know how and what I can do on the court. I think that's why the people like that, a little bit a mystery part of me.

I'm happy. I'm always with a smile.

I think it is never easy to play a quarterfinal against a French guy, you know.

I play very tough tennis, you know.

When the guy is too good - you know, playing clean and you're playing very bad, I mean not that good - you need to change.

I come from nothing.

Having someone to drive me was good for me.

Everybody's talking a lot in my ear, so it's tough sometimes. I try to stay with my team in my bubble.

I try my best for everything. But if I don't feel happy, I don't do it.

Make no mistake, shoes are very important, almost as important as the racket. You need to feel comfortable; you need to be supported by the shoes.

Sometimes luck is on your side, and everything works.

I always ran very fast and jumped very high but when I was about thirteen it was more of a choice between football and tennis, and I went for tennis.

When I'm on the court, it's a blessing.

I have always known about the quality of Asics products, so when they approached me, I was really receptive. They explained what they would like to do with me, both in terms of design and marketing activities around the world. They came with a long-term approach, which is very rare in this industry, which appealed to me a great deal.

Well, I'm never on time.

When you change, you change with what you got. What I got is my speed. I got a little bit of my instinct and flair.

I create music; I create painting; I create whatever I want to create. I create, what you say, clothes. I create, I don't know, dance move. I create anything.

I think I know how to try to play the best, and to play the best sometime is to improve.

Yeah, I just a lucky man.

I'm just saying sometimes great to play smaller court, with the crowd very close. We can feel their energy, the passion, yeah, the love in it. I love it, to be honest. It's great.

When I fight for a cause and I know it, I fight for it. I'm not scared to say something. I think some tennis player, maybe they're a bit scared, whatever is the reason. Definitely, some athletes, they fight for big cause. They speak it loud. I think it's great. It's great for sport. It's great for life.

You have to push yourself.

Sometime haters would say or misunderstand how lucky I am to doing what I'm doing, to be healthy and play my sport and passion.

There are so many tournaments when I started this way. I was so shy. I didn't really play well. And then all of a sudden I found the very strong, powerful Gael Monfils.

If you want to do big things, it's never easy.

Any energy, I take it. Even if it's for me or not for me, I take it.

I think I'm a guy always pumped up.

I think I'm both lucky but also unlucky, because sometimes I miss so many matches.

I'm a believer but to reach the top I have to believe more, endure more. When I do two hours of practice, I need to add 30 minutes more. I need to feel something inside to go further.

People need to understand that if I dive, it's because I know I can dive.

Asics has a machine that measures every single angle of my feet. With this information they made customized shoes for me and I have felt great the minute I put them on.

Asics shoes are known to be the best in the world and I am sure they will limit some of the injuries that I had before.

I'm just myself on the court.

I think people, they love me because I play with my heart, I fight.

God gave me such great abilities, and sometimes that's a strength and sometimes it's not a strength. It's just the way it is.

Each sportsman behaves differently.

Basically every match I receive some racist comment, and you can cross some racist person.

When you have movies who help, who give belief and show strength, it's good.

I think when I dive on the court, I dive not for people. To be honest, I gonna hurt myself for people?... I dive because I want to win the point.