Gaël Monfils, tennisâ€s great showman, prepares for his final bow | Tennis

The curtain call has come for another beloved tennis star: the veteran French player Gaël Monfils will retire at the end of the 2026 season, his 22nd year on the menâ€s tour. In a social media post announcing the news on Wednesday, Monfils struck an upbeat tone, thanking family and fans while doffing a cap at the range of opponents he was privileged to face during the gameâ€s “golden ageâ€; prominent among his mentions were Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic – the only one in that group who is still playing. And while history is likely to remember the 39-year-old Monfils – whose résumé includes nearly 600 match victories, a career-best No 6 singles ranking and more than $24m in on-court earnings – as one of the more unfortunate victims of the Big Four epoch, he makes a compelling counterargument for style over stats.

Federer, Nadal, Murray and Djokovic may have all the titles. But while they were stifling three generations†worth of tennis muscle, Monfils emerged as the eraâ€s most dazzling performer. For years US tennis commentators groused about the home federation not doing enough to steer the countryâ€s best young athlete away from other stick-and-ball sports and make American tennis great again. But itâ€s obvious now that the player they were constructing in their minds was Monfils: a 6ft4in skein of fast-twitch sinews, with the devilâ€s own forehand tacked on for good measure. In his own social media post, the estimable coach Patrick Mouratoglou framed his compatriotâ€s retirement as a mighty blow to the sport. “Tennis needs players like him,†he wrote. “They are so rare.†An athletic prodigy since elementary school, Monfils underscored his special talent after claiming victories in Franceâ€s under-13 and under-14 100m championships. His athletics coach at the time thought he could make an Olympics sprint final on that potential alone.

Monfilsâ€s career highlight reel looks like something out of NBA Inside Stuff: tomahawking overheads, blind tweeners that clip the line, Rodman-esque full extension retrievals. The first time I saw Monfils play up close, in the 2008 US Open third round against 2002 Wimbledon finalist David Nalbandian, I could not believe what I was seeing: a dirt baller, skidding around the hard court at Louis Armstrong Stadium as his poor sneakers wailed for relief. His Marvel-esque feats on-court rightly inspired a raft of nicknames – Slider-Man, the Flying Frenchman. In the end he went with La Monf, a term of endearment that dates to childhood. That it abided speaks to the tremendous respect Monfils commands from fans, ever keen to put their personal spin on their favorites.

Gaël Monfilsâ€s career highlight reel looks like something out of NBA Inside Stuff: tomahawking overheads, blind tweeners that clip the line, Rodman-esque full extension retrievals. Photograph: Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images

Youâ€d be hard-pressed to find any stories about Monfils letting the superhero hype go to his head: no icy fan interactions, no media meltdowns, no egomaniacal spiraling. But thatâ€s not to mistake Monfils for another unfeeling robo-jock. Where Federer or Murray might shrug off a freak winner as routine brilliance, La Monf oh là lÃs along with his gawkers – as if a mere mortal vessel for the divine. Djokovic, who played Monfils for the first time on a US Open outer court in 2005, called him one of the best athletes heâ€d ever seen in a recent tribute – and heâ€s hardly one to exaggerate. I suspect there are a fair number of us Monfils diehards who would pay to watch him hit balls against a garage door, just to see what kind of spectacle he could make of that. “I always admired you,†wrote Madrid Open tournament director Feliciano López, who only faced Monfils twice over the course of their staggeringly long careers and beat him both times.

Overall, Monfils shouldâ€ve been more of a contender. The son of a Guadeloupe-born professional soccer player, Monfils set expectations high as a 15-year-old junior player, coming a US Open trip shy of notching a calendar slam in 2004. He turned pro later that year and faced national pressure to consolidate a tennis renaissance alongside Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Richard Gasquet and Gilles Simon; the hope was that these nouveau mousquetaires would be as dominant as the René Lacoste-led quartet enshrined at Roland Garros. But in the end Monfilsâ€s Four Musketeers were no match for the Big Four.

Gaël Monfils plays a backhand at Roland Garros. Photograph: Anne-Christine Poujoulat/AFP/Getty Images

Only Tsonga made it to a grand slam final and lost to Djokovic in the 2008 Australian Open for the first of the Serbâ€s record 24 majors. Gasquet never got farther than the semi-finals of Wimbledon and the US Open, and Simon was a slam quarter-finalist twice. Meanwhile, Monfils was cruising at the 2008 French Open until he ran into Federer in the semi-final, and steamrolling through the 2016 US Open bracket until he drew Djokovic in the semis – a four-set loss that makes for a juicy tennis history what-if. Had Monfils made it through to the final, he would have faced Switzerlandâ€s Stan Wawrinka, who went on to beat Djokovic for his third and final major. Up to that point Monfils essentially had a coin-flip record against Wawrinka, the Federer sidekick who became a legit legend seemingly out of nowhere. Itâ€s tempting to think of what might have been had the gameâ€s best showman came together with the eraâ€s biggest disrupter for a style-points Super Bowl of sorts. Wawrinkaâ€s backhand is porn.

Predictably, Monfilsâ€s failures led to harsher scrutiny: about him choosing spectacle over strategy, about his fundamentally defensive playing style, about his perceived lack of commitment. Early in his career Monfils was criticized for touring without a dedicated coach when Federer was the only player getting away with that. But looking back, what was a coach gonna say to Monfils that he wasnâ€t already hearing from the crowds he so routinely energizes? (Some version of: NonononoYESSSSS!) Famously, after losing to Federer in straight sets at a 2006-opening stop in Doha, Monfils elbowed his way into a Las Vegas paddle tennis tournament and ousted the worldâ€s top paddle tennis player on the way to winning the whole shebang. The longer you cheer Monfils, the more you learn to take the good with the bad and just sit back and savor the ride.

Gaël Monfilsâ€s résumé includes nearly 600 match victories, a career-best No 6 singles ranking and more than $24m in on-court earnings. Photograph: Martin Keep/AFP/Getty Images

Now that Monfils is rounding the final corner to fully ensconce himself in #girldadlife with his forever doubles partner, former world No 3 Elina Svitolina, there seems little point in second-guessing the road not traveled. In January, Monfils became the oldest player to win an ATP tournament, claiming his 13th title 20 years after his first to take at least one record off Federer. Starting in 2005, Monfils had reached at least one singles final every year for 19 straight years – a feat only Djokovic and Nadal have equaled. Throughout Monfils held his head high in the face of racial animosity, and his broader influence as a cultural trailblazer is a legacy that isnâ€t talked about nearly enough. Naomi Osaka, Monfilsâ€s US Open doubles partner, was among the welter of peers who described the Frenchman as an inspiration.

No, Monfils didnt get the better of the Big Four, but heâ€s still got a shot against the Big Two – assuming he can bounce back from nagging wrist and ankle injuries and catch Carlos Alcaraz or Jannik Sinner slipping. Otherwise, the game plan remains the same: keep expectations modest, stay in the moment and give the people what they want. “You could have, you should have – Iâ€ve never thought this way,†he wrote, “and frankly Iâ€m far too old to start doing so now. Life is too short. Believe me when I say that I have no regrets.â€

So much of sports discourse these days is a fevered competition to prove whoâ€s best by taking inventory of trophies, rings and other shiny baubles. But by playing tennis on his own terms and with singular vigor and panache, Monfils stands apart as a stark exemplar of the valor in defending the interior kingdom of the self. Enjoy the show while you still can.

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