Gael Monfils’ love affair with Roland Garros ended in familiar fashion on Court Suzanne-Lenglen on Monday — with drama, defiance, and ultimately defeat. The 39-year-old Frenchman, contesting his final French Open, was beaten 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 4-6, 6-3 by compatriot Hugo Gaston in a first-round encounter that stretched across four hours and 12 minutes, drawing a standing ovation from a Parisian crowd that had cheered him for two decades.
Monfils, ranked 47th in the world and a French Open semi-finalist in 2008, announced earlier this year that 2026 would be his final season on tour. His 18th and last appearance at the clay-court Slam he first played as a teenager in 2005 ended against the 25-year-old Gaston, the diminutive left-hander ranked 78th, who broke serve in the eighth game of the decider before serving out a victory he described afterwards as “the most difficult moment of my career”.
A farewell in five sets
The match unfolded like a highlight reel of Monfils’ career. There were tweeners, splits, between-the-legs lobs and a backwards smash that drew gasps in the third-set tie-break. He saved four match points across the fourth and fifth sets, the first with a 142mph ace, the last with a forehand winner struck while sliding into the tramlines. Trailing 5-3 and 0-30 in the final set, he held serve to love with consecutive aces before Gaston, visibly emotional, closed out the match on his own delivery.
“I gave everything I had,” Monfils told the crowd in an on-court address, microphone in hand and tears in his eyes. “This court, this tournament, this country — you have given me a life I could never have imagined as a kid from Paris. Merci.”
Gaston, who had embraced his opponent at the net for nearly a minute, said: “Gael is the reason I picked up a racket. To play him here, to beat him here — I am sorry and I am proud at the same time.”
The showman who shaped a generation
Monfils leaves Roland Garros with a 38-17 singles record at the tournament and a legacy that transcends his statistics. A career-high ranking of No. 6, 13 ATP titles and a Davis Cup runners-up medal in 2010 tell only part of the story. The other part is written in moments: the 2008 semi-final against Roger Federer; the 2014 quarter-final comeback from two sets down against Andy Murray; the 2016 fourth-round epic with Stan Wawrinka that ended after midnight.
His influence on the modern game is harder to quantify but impossible to ignore. The athleticism that earned him the nickname “La Monf” — and the moniker “magician” from John McEnroe — anticipated the era of Carlos Alcaraz and Holger Rune, players for whom acrobatics are not novelty but vocabulary. Several of his contemporaries paid tribute online. Novak Djokovic called him “one of the most gifted athletes our sport has ever seen”. Federer wrote: “Tennis loses one of its great entertainers. Thank you, Gael.”
Monfils, who married Ukrainian player Elina Svitolina in 2021 and became a father in 2022, has spoken in recent interviews about the physical toll of two decades on tour. He has undergone surgery on both knees and his right wrist since 2020, and missed the entirety of the 2023 clay swing with a heel injury.
What comes next
The Frenchman has confirmed he will play Wimbledon and the US Open before retiring at the Paris Masters in November, a 10-day farewell window that will include the ATP 250 in Metz. He has also been linked with a captaincy role in the French Davis Cup setup once he steps off the court, though the French Tennis Federation has yet to formalise any appointment.
For French tennis, his departure leaves a vacuum that Gaston, Arthur Fils and 21-year-old Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard must now fill. None has yet reached a Grand Slam semi-final. The country has not produced a male singles champion at Roland Garros since Yannick Noah in 1983, and the wait, for now, goes on.
- Result: Hugo Gaston beat Gael Monfils 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 4-6, 6-3
- Match duration: 4 hours 12 minutes
- Monfils’ French Open record: 38 wins, 17 losses across 18 appearances
- Career highlights: 13 ATP titles, career-high ranking of No. 6, 2008 French Open semi-finalist
- Retirement schedule: Wimbledon, US Open, Paris Masters (November)
As Monfils walked from the court for the last time, racket raised to all four corners of Suzanne-Lenglen, the chant that had followed him for 20 years rolled down from the stands one final time: “La Monf, La Monf, La Monf.” The magician had taken his last bow in Paris.
Sports journalist and editor at SportsPortal.net. Covers cricket, football, Formula 1, tennis, and basketball with a focus on how global sports connect with Pakistani audiences. Follows the PSL, Pakistan national cricket team, Premier League, and major international tournaments. Has reported on sports for digital audiences since 2021.
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