Monfils slips quietly out of Wimbledon

He is an 18-year-old junior Grand Slam champion whose game is fashioned out of a fist-pumping fury.

So Monfils’ 6-3 6-3 6-1 defeat to Mario Ancic on Court One today hardly caused much of a tremor on the Wimbledon Richter Scale.

With six other players still ranked above him in his home country alone, few will have noticed the Frenchman’s defeat, least of all the Court One crowd who were too busy watching the skies for the imminent threat of rain.

After a storm of big serves from Ancic, the covers came on for the first time this fortnight when the Croatian teetered on the edge of the second set.

It merely delayed the inevitable for Monfils, who won the junior title in three of the four Grand Slams last year, including Wimbledon.

There were to be no unlikely heroics to match those of the young Scotsman whose triumph at Flushing Meadows last year denied him a clean sweep of the major titles.

Despite an impressive second round win over 22nd seed Dominik Hrbaty, Monfils has found the senior grass-court game very different to the one which provided him with so much success last season.

Those grass-court giants do not come much bigger than the 6ft 5in Ancic, last year’s surprise semi-finalist whose consistent serving makes him a major threat once again in the top half of the draw.

Monfils was broken in his second service game and received scant opportunities to get back on level terms.

“This is all about not losing or winning, I just learn and see what I have to do to be the best maybe next year or two years after,” said Monfils.

“This is the preparation right now. I didn’t really play my game today but I think I learned something new.”

Ancic hammered down his serve like hailstones as ever-blackening sky fortold Monfils’ fortunes.

In the fifth game of the second set, a wild forehand which could perhaps be put down to youthful exuberance gave Ancic his second break and with it, effectively, the set.

The latest Croatian contender may lack the ragged charm of Goran Ivanisevic but there can be no doubting he boasts an effectiveness to rank up with that of his illustrious predecessor.

Feliciano Lopez awaits Ancic with a tin hat in round four, while Monfils must leave Wimbledon’s teenage kicks to somebody a little closer to home.