The Flying Frenchman thrilled crowds for two decades with acrobatics, charisma and pure joy. As he heads for retirement in 2026, the sport loses a rare entertainer
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 men’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 game’s “golden age”; 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 era’s most dazzling performer. For years US tennis commentators groused about the home federation not doing enough to steer the country’s best young athlete away from other stick-and-ball sports and make American tennis great again. But it’s obvious now that the player they were constructing in their minds was Monfils: a 6ft4in skein of fast-twitch sinews, with the devil’s own forehand tacked on for good measure. In his own social media post, the estimable coach Patrick Mouratoglou framed his compatriot’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 France’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.
