“The goal? To play until I’m 40”: Gaël Monfils, the last of the Musketeers
By Alice Ferber
Published on , updated on
Gaël Monfils at the Australian Open in Melbourne on January 18, where he defeated world number 4, American Taylor Fritz. VIRGINIE BOUYER/PRESSE SPORTS
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Portrait The oldest player in the world's top 100, the French tennis player pursues his career for pleasure and, at 38, continues to thrill audiences with his inimitable showmanship. He enters the competition this Tuesday evening at Roland-Garros for the eighteenth time.
On the tennis planet, Gaël Monfils isn't the most decorated player. He's never reached a Grand Slam final or won an Olympic medal. This observation offends enthusiasts, given the Frenchman's talent predisposed him to the greatest successes. But isn't it unfair to define an athlete by the missing lines in his record? If we stick to statistics, let's recall this one: with his victory in Auckland in January, Monfils became, at 38, the oldest winner of an ATP tournament since the creation of the professional circuit. The oldest player in the top 100 had lifted the first of his thirteen trophies in Sopot, Poland, twenty years earlier. This Tuesday evening, on Court Philippe-Chatrier, against Bolivian Hugo Dellien, he will return to the Roland-Garros crowd for the eighteenth time, where he won the junior title in 2004.
The 42nd in the world, former number 6 [in 2016] , has maintained his position at the highest level for two decades. And it's not over, he promised with a laughing voice at the beginning of April in Nîmes, where he was playing in the UTS tournament: "The goal? I'd like to play until I'm 40, like LeBron James, Zlatan Ibrahimović and Cristiano Ronaldo, stay competitive, and above all give the public as much pleasure as I get on the pitch." Vibrating to the cheers pushes "the M…
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