It was all going so well for Gael Monfils. Too well.

The enigmatic Frenchman took the first set of his U.S. Open fourth-round match against world No. 8 Girgor Dimitrov and was up a break in the second set, on his way to a two-set lead. But then, as they often do for Gael Monfils, things quickly crumbled in a mental mess of his own making.

After Monfils was broken back, he started complaining to the chair umpire. ESPN’s Patrick McEnroe said it had something to do with an object that fell out of a pocket of a ballboy. The chair umpire said he hadn’t seen anything and the matter seemed dropped, except to Monfils, who continued jawing at his player’s box, then decided to return a Dimitrov serve from well inside the baseline. Dimitrov hesitated before serving, as if to ask, “dude, you sure about this?”

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What better way to protest a perceived slight than by handing a game to your opponent? That’ll show ’em!

Monfils tanked a few more points in the set, then somehow managed to wrench back the set from the depths of his tortured tennis soul.

He faced a set point on Dimitrov’s serve in the tiebreak, fought it off, then played a bizarre game of possum at 6-6, pushing balls back to Dimitrov and practically begging him to take a whack for a winner. Dimitrov bit and hit two unforced errors to hand Monfils a set he had practically given up on minutes before.

Gael Monfils. His own best and worst enemy. The greatest showman in tennis. You can’t take your eyes off him.

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