KEY POINTS:
Gael Monfils will be easy to spot at the men's international tournament this week.
He'll be the bloke who, when preparing for a match, will be juggling chairs, doing handstands (as he did at the ASB Tennis Centre yesterday), and anything else to keep the tedium of training
to a minimum.
The 1.93m Frenchman is 20 and one of the up-and-comers on the ATP circuit. At No 46 in the world rankings, he's making an impact.
He was No 23, but injuries blunted the end of his past year, which meant he played just two matches from September to December.
Yesterday, the wildcard entry wasted no time getting ready to face Spain's Alberto Martin on centre court today, when the Heineken Open kicks off.
Monfils spent three hours training, switching from one court to another, utilising three altogether, in a bid to get his game ready.
Monfils arrived from Doha, Qatar, on Saturday and reckons his plans to get more offensive didn't work on the Gulf state.
He'd reached the final there a year ago, losing to world No 1 Roger Federer. This time he lost in the second round to Russian Mikhail Youzhny.
He wants to change the way he plays, but it's a work in progress.
"It wasn't very good," Monfils said. "I try to be more offensive, to come to the net a little bit more. In Doha, I was too defensive."
He's capable of the spectacular. His pre-match routine involves plenty of music piped through his headphones.
Rhythm and blues, rap, Caribbean and French is the mix.
"I don't really think about the match. I think about nothing," he said in his softly-spoken, halting English.
"When the game is there, I will be there, but before the game I like to relax."
The sporting genes are strong; his father played professionally for top flight French football club Bordeaux.
He reckons he was pretty nifty too, but at 12 had to choose between football and tennis.
"It wasn't easy, but tennis is an individual sport and I prefer to [play sport] by myself."
Ambitions for the year? Yes he's got them, but he keeps them to himself.
His chances today?
"I have played him before. He beat me, but it was on clay [in Palermo two years ago] so it was very different. This will be revenge for me."
He is his own person. Born in Paris, now resident in Nyon, Switzerland, there were players he liked when he was growing up, but none he'd call a hero.
Monfils appeals as someone who marches to his own beat. He's a long way from the furrow-browed workaholic.
"I am always cool," he added. "It's a game, I don't like to be too serious."
