On September 8th I posted an article suggesting that Roger Rasheed ( ATP Tour Coach) dump Gael Monfils like a bad habit.

Rasheed had taken Leyton Hewitt to the top echelon of the sport not to long ago, and after parting ways with Hewitt he took a position with the Frenchman--Monfils.

As a coach I'm always interested in the changes new coaches suggest to their players.

Aside from getting his charge in  Spartan warrior condition, I really didn't see much in the way of either technical or tactical adjustment in the game of the Frenchman.

The amateurish effort he put in against Federer at the US OPEN would have sent most coaches in search of a more committed and earnest client.

It looks instead like taskmaster Rasheed sat Monfils down and made him watch the tape of that match until the foolishness of his play that day sunk in and   ,perhaps through embarrassment,   motivated him to grow up and get professional about the game.

His play this week in the Paris Masters Event was a world class effort. The defensive cat and mouse game that branded Gael as an underachiever was shelved for a forward pressing geometrically based logical game plan.

Perhaps playing at his home court(Paris) or maybe the fast(slick actually) indoor surface had something to do with his  improved results, but from this old coaches perspective it looks like the coach player relationship is beginning to gel!

                                                                                 JUST MY OPINION, HOWIE BURNETT

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