Dominik Koepfer vs. Gael Monfils 9/17/20 Rome Open Tennis Pick, Odds, and Prediction

Gael Monfils makes his long-awaited return to the tour after winning the Rotterdam Open in February of this year before the coronavirus hiatus. Will Monfils come back and play his best, or will the German, Dominik Koepfer cause a shocking upset?

Dominik Koepfer is a very solid baseline rallier and many will remember him from his 2019 US Open match against Daniil Medvedev where at many moments it looked like he could win the match. Koepfer is a strong player physically and this allows him to play long and draining rallies. Koepfer had a superb opening round match, providing a shock win over Alex De Minaur in a match where no one would give him the light of day. Koepfer will know he can pose a threat to Monfils who has not played on this surface and not played at all in a while, but can he come through in the end?

Gael Monfils had a superb start to the year this year, winning 2 titles already and showing us some of his best tennis. Monfils has been rejuvenated in the last few years and this is because he has decided to focus fully on the task at hand when he is on the court, unlike his past self. Monfils will be looking to prepare himself for Roland Garros here in Rome and the way to do that will be through winning a few matches. Monfils is one of the best athletes the sport has seen and he does not seem to be 33 years old.

This is going to be the first meeting between both players and it might be a tight one. Monfils has not played in a while and perhaps the first set will be tight for him to get his rhythm back. However, after that, I think Monfils has both the talent and the experience to come through this match and book his spot into the third round here. Monfils is the much better player and Koepfer is just not on his level. Koepfer will be happy just to be in the second round, I don’t see him going further.