Gael Monfils vs. Jack Draper Prediction: Monfils to Put His Fitness to Test

On Thursday, August 11, the seasoned French player Gael Monfils will take on the emerging British youngster Jack Draper in the third round of the 2022 ATP Canadian Open.

Gael Monfils, 34, has done well to surpass youthful players like Maxime Cressey (7-6(10), 7-6(8)) and Pedro Martinez (7-6(4), 3-6, 6-2).

The Frenchman would have advanced to the Canadian Open quarterfinals for the second consecutive year with one more victory. He has a solid record in the competition, having been to the semifinals in 2016 and 2019.

Monfils, who is now rated No. 20 in the world, has played conservatively this season; his record is currently 14-6. In the second round of his most recent competition, the Madrid Open, he was defeated by Novak Djokovic.

Gael had some success earlier in the year, all on hard courts, when he won the Adelaide International 1 and advanced to the Australian Open quarterfinals.

The 20-year-old Jack Draper, who is ranked No. 82 in the world, just defeated Greek No. 1 Stefanos Tsitsipas to earn his first career top-10 victory.

Despite taking two hours, Draper managed to win in straight sets with scores of 7-5, 7-6(4). He had a superior first-service game and fewer unforced errors than Stefanos (17 vs. 36), but he only served out 21 wins.

But a victory is a win, and the teenager has now achieved his greatest ATP rankings. His previous best performance came during the Eastbourne 250 semifinal run.

Jack began as a qualifier in Montreal and advanced to round three after defeating Tsitisipas, Quentin Halys, Roberto Marcora, and Hugo Gaston all in straight sets.

For what it's worth, he has a good hard-court background; he's already won four Challenger championships this year.

The aged Monfils will put his fitness to the test in this game. But with his far more expertise than Draper's, he ought to be able to at least partially reply.

Nevertheless, given that Jack has been having a good year, picking him to win this bet would not be the worst move to make.

• Total Under 23.5 for 1.81
• Handicap Jack Draper (+1) for 1.8
• Individual Total 2 Over 12.5 for 1.83