‘A helluva long ride’ is coming to an end for a trickster who will be remembered as one of tennis’ great showmen

Published on: Sep 4, 2026, 22:41:27 IST

Prefer HTon Google

Share via
Copy link

Mumbai: On a green-tinged US Open court, like they were a couple of decades ago, a youngster sporting red shorts and sneakers leaps over the service line – both feet close to each other, the right arm and racquet cocked behind the head while the left arm flows loose – and smashes a high ball across the net. Like a slam dunk in basketball.

On the shining blue of the Louis Armstrong court under lights, like they are now for night sessions, a 40-year-old wearing fluorescent green shorts waits behind the baseline for the looping forehand, takes off to meet the ball mid-air with both feet wide apart, and unleashes a crosscourt forehand winner. Like a split in dance.

This is the same guy, 20 years apart, playing elite professional sport like a kid out in the park. Leaping, gliding, sliding, tumbling, springing, and dishing out the kind of tennis that brings spectators to their feet.

Like they were when Gael Monfils played that airborne forehand winner in the first round of this US Open. Beating Adolfo Daniel Vallejo the day he turned 40, the packed stadium sang “happy birthday” for him later.

Like they also were when Gael Monfils walked off the court, with a bow and a smile, after the second round of the US Open. Losing to American Learner Tien on Thursday night, the packed stadium echoed with chants of “Mon-fils! Mon-fils!” as he bid adieu to Grand Slams.

The sport’s biggest stages will see few like the Frenchman. Not as a Grand Slam champion, but as a Grand Slam showman. In the truest sense of that term.

As modern tennis increasingly steered towards a mechanical marvel of hard-hitters and baseline warriors, Monfils stood out as an anomaly.

He was a trickster, with oodles of acrobatics and athleticism. He’d slice and slide, volley and drop (literally, at times), smash and swivel, twist and turn. He’d try tweeners at the net, no-look behind-the-shoulder forehands and backhands, and leaping volleys and smashes when a normal shot would have sufficed.

Not for Monfils. He was Air Monfils. He was La Monf.

And that’s exactly how he would like to be remembered.

“I’m just me. Gael Monfils,” he said. “I think I’ve been the same since I came on tour. With a lot of joy. I feel like you don’t have to tell anyone how you want them to remember you. I think some people might like me. Some not. Some people think I’m fun. Some not. Some people think I entertain them. Some maybe not. I’m alright with everything.”

Monfils’s Grand Slam record is alright too, even if not extraordinary. Making his main draw debut at the 2005 Australian Open, the Frenchman made the semi-finals of his home Slam in Paris in 2008 as an unseeded player halted only by Roger Federer, the then world No.1. It would take him another eight years to reach another semi-final, this time at the US Open, where he ran into top seed Novak Djokovic.

Although Monfils reached eight more quarter-finals, frequent injuries and a touch of inconsistency to go with all that trickery meant those two semi-final appearances remain the three-time junior Slam champion’s best runs in Majors.

A title may have eluded the former world No.6, but his longevity stands out. Among the players who played the 2005 Australian Open, only Monfils and Novak Djokovic remained competitors at this US Open.

When Monfils beat Vallejo, he became only the third man aged 40 or above to win a US Open singles match in the last 50 years (after Ken Rosewall, 42, in 1977 and Jimmy Connors, 40, in 1992). That was also his 34th career victory at the US Open, the most ever by a Frenchman in New York. Last year, he matched Yannick Noah for the most wins at the French Open (40) among Frenchmen in the Open Era.

“I came here in 2003 for the juniors for the first time and here I am in 2026,” Monfils told the New York crowd in a send-off ceremony that comprised a video montage. “So it’s a helluva long ride.”

Next up in the ride is a big detour. Monfils is often spotted in the coaching box during his wife Elina Svitolina’s matches, and even though that may continue, he is switching tracks. Monfils has signed up to work in finance with a Switzerland firm next year.

From pulling out mid-air smashes and tweeners to sitting behind a desk crunching numbers, that’s so unlike him, right?

Monfils on court and Monfils off court are different people, though, he said. The latter is “more strict, more serious” and well organised. His wife wishes he could be more like the entertainer he is while playing tennis even at home.

“In tennis, I am the way I am,” said Monfils. “This is my joy place, where I can let my emotions go.”

See Less