Gael Monfils hires Dominic Thiem's former coach Gunter Bresnik

World no. 11 Gael Monfils will work with Dominic Thiem's former coach Gunter Bresnik from 2021. The Frenchman has built his coaching staff around the experienced Austrian and Richard Ruckelshausen, who will lead France as the captain at the upcoming ATP Cup. Bresnik has worked with notable tennis players since the 80s, including Boris Becker, Henri Leconte, Patrick McEnroe and Dominic Thiem, with whom he spent no less than 18 years! Bresnik and Thiem parted ways in April 2019 when Dominic was already among the world's leading players. Thiem continued with Nicolas Massu, while Bresnik worked with Jerzy Janowicz and a former top-10 player Ernests Gulbis for a couple of months in 2020. Now, the Austrian will embrace a new challenge with Gael Monfils, who made a great start of the previous year before losing ground following the season's restart in August.

Gael had lost to Dominic Thiem in straight sets at the Australian Open fourth-round, returned to Europe and claimed the Montpellier crown following a win over Vasek Pospisil. A week later, the Frenchman repeated that in Rotterdam, taking 500 ATP points and confirming his top-10 status.

Gael Monfils will work with Gunter Bresnik in 2021.

Monfils didn't lose a set en route to the title, toppling Joao Sousa, Gilles Simon, Daniel Evans, Filip Krajinovic and Felix Auger-Aliassime for the tenth ATP crown. Taking one week off, Gael returned to action in Dubai and had a massive opportunity to reach another title match in Dubai and extend his streak.

The Frenchman made a perfect start against world no. 1 Novak Djokovic in the semi-final and forged a 6-3 advantage in the second set's tie break. Monfils wasted all three match points and fell in three sets, wasting an opportunity to grab a notable victory and losing all the matches by the end of the season, unable to find the form following the coronavirus outbreak. Gael will lead France at the ATP Cup, and his coach Gunter Bresnik will have the opportunity to play against his former pupil Dominic Thiem, as France and Austria share one of four groups.

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2MiBn3o