Gael Monfils has been one of the great protagonists of this start of the season and has also shone at the Australian Open. The French veteran reached the round of 16 at Melbourne Park against all odds, also eliminating world number 4 Taylor Fritz thanks to an amazing performance from a tactical point of view.
‘La Monf’ has joined a legend like Roger Federer in the list of players capable of reaching the second week in the Happy Slam after turning 38.
The current world number 41 was also playing a great match today against Ben Shelton, before his gas ran out after three hours of battle. The first three sets were all decided in a tiebreak and the American was two sets to one, while the French player was increasingly physically exhausted.
After suffering a break at the beginning of the fourth set and feeling cramps, Gael preferred to retire having realized that he could no longer guarantee the fans a worthy show. His tournament remains truly impressive and the end of his career can be postponed, especially if he continues to have this motivation and excellent physical shape.
A particular stat
At the same time, it is worth noting that – with this retirement – Monfils has become the player with the most retirements and walkovers in Open Era together with German Tommy Haas. Both are 33, ahead of Nikolay Davydenko and Philipp Kohlschreiber in this particular ranking.
During his press conference before the match against Shelton, the French ace was asked to explain how tennis has changed in recent years: “I feel like the game is a bit faster, of course, a bit faster. I think that the technology has evolved a lot. Now every single player is a professional of a big team.
I think physically it’s different, so you just evolve, I guess. Then I think in 20 years it’s going to be maybe even faster or more physical or different.
I feel like rackets, strings, balls, everything changes. I just try to keep myself, you know, with this evolution.”
Tennis World USA