145 Facts About Gael Monfils

Gael Sebastien Monfils is a French professional tennis player.

Gael Monfils has been ranked as high as world No 6 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals, which he achieved in November 2016.

Gael Monfils has won eleven ATP Tour singles titles and been runner-up twenty-two times, and has reached at least one ATP Tour singles final every year since 2005.

Gael Sebastien Monfils was born on 1 September 1986 in Paris, where he was raised.

Gael Monfils's father Rufin Monfils is from Guadeloupe and is a former pro football player and France Telecom employee.

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Gael Monfils played his first junior match in January 2002 at the age of 15 at a grade 4 tournament in Sweden.

Gael Monfils was crowned International Tennis Federation youth world champion.

In 2002, Gael Monfils finished runner-up at the Dutch Junior Open and won the German Junior Open.

Gael Monfils ended the year ranked as the No 4 junior in the world and represented France in the Junior Davis Cup.

Gael Monfils got off to a positive start in 2003 and earned his first career ATP point at the France Futures No 13 by reaching the second round.

Gael Monfils reached the second round at the France Futures No 14, Egypt Futures No 2 and the Spain Futures No 28.

Gael Monfils reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open juniors tournament and won the doubles title at the Victorian Junior Championships.

Gael Monfils was No 21 in junior rankings at the end of the year.

Gael Monfils improved his ATP Entry Ranking by over 700 positions.

Gael Monfils won junior titles at the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon.

Gael Monfils did not drop a set in Australia and lost one set each at the French Open and Wimbledon.

Gael Monfils won the LTA International Junior Championship in Roehampton.

Gael Monfils reached the semifinals at the Australian Open and the quarterfinals at the French Open.

Gael Monfils solely played ITF Futures events from early 2003 to mid 2004 winning two titles.

Gael Monfils made his ATP debut at the 2004 Open de Moselle after receiving a wildcard into the main draw where he defeated 2nd seed Xavier Malisse in the first round for his first ever ATP win.

Gael Monfils followed this up with another victory over Olivier Patience in the second round to reach the quarterfinals where he lost to fellow wildcard and junior and eventual finalist Richard Gasquet in straight sets.

Gael Monfils finished the year as the No 3 Frenchman, behind only world No 16 Richard Gasquet and world No 26 Sebastien Grosjean.

Gael Monfils was given a wildcard into the doubles event, but became more interested and inquired about getting a singles wildcard into the main draw.

Gael Monfils competed in the main draw of this paddle tennis tournament and surprised everyone when he ousted world No 1 paddle tennis player Scott Freedman and eventually went on to win the whole tournament.

Gael Monfils then entered the Hamburg Masters event, where he lost in straight sets to fellow teenager Andy Murray in the first round.

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Gael Monfils then faced his toughest opponent yet, American James Blake.

Gael Monfils then entered the Stella Artois Championships, where he won his first-round match against Jurgen Melzer.

Gael Monfils then played the American Bobby Reynolds and won in straight sets.

Gael Monfils's quarterfinal draw was with James Blake, whom he had met earlier at the French Open.

At Wimbledon, Gael Monfils suffered a surprising first-round exit when defeated by Igor Kunitsyn.

Gael Monfils won the first set, but ended up losing the next three.

At the 2007 Australian Open, Gael Monfils lost to his compatriot Richard Gasquet in the third round in four sets.

Gael Monfils had a good run in Poertschach as a warm-up for the French Open, but lost in the final against Juan Monaco of Argentina in straight sets.

Gael Monfils lost in the third round of the French Open to David Nalbandian in a four-set match.

At Wimbledon, Gael Monfils reached the third round without dropping a set, where he lost to Nikolay Davydenko, the sixth seed, in straight sets.

In July, Gael Monfils made it to the semifinals of the 2007 Legg Mason Tennis Classic, before losing to American John Isner in three tiebreaks.

Gael Monfils withdrew from the 2007 US Open with a hamstring injury.

Gael Monfils was forced to withdraw from the 2008 Australian Open due to the same injury.

At the 2008 French Open, Gael Monfils reached a semifinals berth for the first time at any Grand Slam, becoming the first Frenchman to reach the semifinals since 2001.

Gael Monfils was defeated by top seed Roger Federer in four sets.

Gael Monfils was selected by France to play at the Olympics in Beijing, where he lost to third seed Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals.

At the 2008 US Open, Gael Monfils lost in the fourth round to Mardy Fish in straight sets, after having previously defeated former world No 3 David Nalbandian, in straight sets.

At the Thailand Open, Gael Monfils reached the semifinals, losing to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in two sets.

Gael Monfils lost in the final of the BA-CA Tennis Trophy in straight sets to Philipp Petzschner in the final.

Gael Monfils played his first tournament at the Qatar Open and caused a two-set upset in the quarterfinals against Rafael Nadal.

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Gael Monfils lost to finalist Andy Roddick in three sets, after being up a break in the first set and losing it.

At the 2009 Australian Open, Gael Monfils lost to fellow Frenchman Gilles Simon in the fourth round, retiring due to a wrist injury.

Gael Monfils competed at the 2009 Monte Carlo Masters, losing in the first round to Janko Tipsarevic in straight sets.

Gael Monfils then completed another straight-set victory in the second round by overcoming Victor Crivoi.

Against Melzer, Gael Monfils made one of the most spectacular plays of the tournament, hitting a diving shot back to Melzer, sliding to save another point of Melzer and then putting the point away.

Gael Monfils then played a much-anticipated fourth-round match against Andy Roddick, who made 28 unforced errors en route to losing to Monfils in straight sets.

Gael Monfils then lost, as in the previous year, to Roger Federer, this time in the quarterfinals.

Gael Monfils then lost to qualifier Juan Carlos Ferrero in his second match, ending his Masters tournament campaign.

At the Japan Open, Gael Monfils reached the semifinal stage, losing to eventual champion Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

Gael Monfils lost the first set and then was forced to retire with a back injury.

At the 2009 Paris Masters, Gael Monfils made his first Masters final, where was defeated by Novak Djokovic.

Gael Monfils began his season at the Brisbane International, where he was seeded third.

Gael Monfils lost to defending champion, Czech Radek Stepanek in the semifinals.

Gael Monfils withdrew from the Medibank International in Sydney, Australia, citing a shoulder injury.

At the 2010 Australian Open, Gael Monfils lost in the round of 32 to John Isner in four sets.

Gael Monfils was the first seed at the SA Tennis Open, where he lost in the semifinals to Feliciano Lopez.

Gael Monfils then played in the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam, where he fell in the quarterfinals to the eventual runner-up, Russian Mikhail Youzhny in three sets.

Gael Monfils fell in the quarterfinals at the 2010 Open 13 in Marseille, France, as the third seed to Julien Benneteau in straight sets.

Gael Monfils withdrew from three consecutive Masters 1000 events – the Sony Ericsson Open, the 2010 Monte Carlo Masters and the 2010 Rome Masters.

Gael Monfils was set to return at the Estoril Open and receive a wildcard, but withdrew due to a stomach injury.

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Gael Monfils finally made his return at the 2010 Madrid Masters and reached the quarterfinals without losing a set, where he lost to third seed Rafael Nadal.

Gael Monfils then played at the Open de Nice Cote d'Azur in Nice, France, where he lost in the quarterfinals to Potito Starace.

Gael Monfils was up two sets and a break, before being upset by Fabio Fognini in a match over two days.

Gael Monfils eventually lost to grass-court specialist and former Wimbledon champion Lleyton Hewitt in straight sets.

Gael Monfils was forced to retire in the final against Albert Montanes.

Gael Monfils is the first Frenchman to make the US Open quarterfinals since Arnaud Clement in 2000.

Gael Monfils was runner-up at the Rakuten Japan Open, losing to Rafael Nadal in two sets.

At the Open Sud de France, Gael Monfils won his third tournament, defeating Ivan Ljubicic in three sets.

Gael Monfils was seeded twelfth at the 2010 Paris Masters and successfully reached the final for the second consecutive year, this time scoring three Top 10 wins en route to doing so.

Gael Monfils started 2011 at the AAMI Kooyong Classic where, in the final, he lost to Australian and former world No 1 Lleyton Hewitt.

At the 2011 French Open, Gael Monfils defeated seventh seed David Ferrer in five sets to reach the quarterfinals.

Gael Monfils defeated Matthias Bachinger and Grega Zemlja before falling in the third round to Lukasz Kubot of Poland in four sets.

Gael Monfils reached the quarterfinals of both the 2011 Canadian Masters and the Cincinnati Masters, where he lost to Novak Djokovic.

At the 2012 Australian Open, Gael Monfils progressed to the third round before bowing out to Mikhail Kukushkin in five sets.

Gael Monfils was suffering from a back injury he received in the previous round.

Gael Monfils reached the third round of the 2012 Madrid Masters, again losing to Berdych.

Gael Monfils attempted another comeback with the beginning of the 2013 season in Doha, where he was able to reach the quarterfinals.

Gael Monfils reached the semifinals in Auckland, being eliminated by David Ferrer.

Gael Monfils made it to the third round of the 2013 Australian Open, but was defeated there by compatriot Gilles Simon.

Gael Monfils then played in Montpellier, where he was defeated in the second round by Richard Gasquet.

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Gael Monfils received a wildcard into Rotterdam, but was defeated in the first round by Juan Martin del Potro.

Gael Monfils received a wildcard for the 2013 French Open after a good clay season with a win at the Bordeaux Challenger and a final at the Nice ATP tournament, he upset Berdych in the first round of the French Open, who was seeded fifth.

Gael Monfils continued his quest by defeating Ernests Gulbis in round two.

Gael Monfils reached the final in Winston-Salem, but bowed out to Austria's Jurgen Melzer in the second set due to an unspecified injury, securing the championship for Melzer.

Gael Monfils reached his third final in Doha and lost to Rafael Nadal in three sets.

Gael Monfils was beaten by Nadal in the third round of the 2014 Australian Open.

Gael Monfils hurt his wrist in a match against Grigor Dimitrov and did not play again until the 2014 French Open, where he made it to the quarterfinals before losing to Andy Murray.

At the 2014 US Open, Gael Monfils reached the quarterfinals for a second time and just narrowly missed reaching his second Grand Slam semifinal when he lost to Roger Federer in five sets, despite leading by two sets to love and holding two match points against his serve in the fourth set.

Gael Monfils played his first tournament at the 2015 Australian Open.

Gael Monfils defeated Lucas Pouille in 5 sets in the first round before being ousted against Jerzy Janowicz in another five setter.

Gael Monfils reached the final of the Open 13 in Marseille, that of which saw him lose to Gilles Simon.

Gael Monfils then lost in the round of 16 to Roger Federer in four sets.

Gael Monfils was however, able to participate at Wimbledon, defeating Pablo Carreno Busta and Adrian Mannarino before again losing to Gilles Simon in the third round in five sets.

Gael Monfils said after the match he got disturbed when the crowd started to whistle at his opponent.

Gael Monfils started the 2016 season by entering the 2016 Australian Open where he was seeded twenty-third, Gael Monfils took advantage of a draw which opened up in his section to reach the singles quarterfinals of the Australian Open for the first time.

Gael Monfils then reached a third career ATP World Tour Masters 1000 final and second final of 2016 in Monte Carlo, that of which saw him defeat countryman and world No 9 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the semifinals en route, before ultimately losing in the final to the eight-time Monte Carlo Masters champion Rafael Nadal in three sets.

Gael Monfils then looked to again replicate this form at the next two clay-court ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments – the 2016 Madrid Masters and the 2016 Rome Masters.

Gael Monfils caught a viral infection during his stay in Madrid and, as a result, ended up losing in the second round to Pablo Cuevas.

In late August, Gael Monfils entered the 2016 US Open seeded tenth and reached the semifinals without dropping a set, defeating prominent past and present players on the tour Gilles Muller, Jan Satral, Nicolas Almagro, Marcos Baghdatis and Lucas Pouille en route.

Gael Monfils eventually lost a controversial match to Djokovic in four sets.

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Gael Monfils then entered the Shanghai Masters seeded sixth and received a bye into the second round, where he defeated Kevin Anderson in straight sets.

Whole of 2017, Gael Monfils only managed to progress beyond the round of 16 of the singles main draw in just three ATP World Tour tournaments – the 2017 Open 13, the 2017 Dubai Tennis Championships and the 2017 Aegon International Eastbourne.

Gael Monfils saw his year-end position in the ATP singles rankings slip to world No 46 as he struggled with his fitness in 2017.

Gael Monfils was forced to withdraw from six tournaments because of various ailments and concluded his season after losing in the third round of the 2017 US Open, citing a right knee injury.

Gael Monfils won his seventh ATP World Tour singles title at the 2018 Qatar Open.

Gael Monfils had lost his previous three Qatar Open singles finals.

Gael Monfils then made the semifinals of the 2018 Argentina Open, upsetting seventh seed Pablo Cuevas in the first round before being handily defeated by Dominic Thiem in the semifinals.

In round one, Gael Monfils completed a significant comeback to beat Horacio Zeballos, saving one match point in the process with a booming forehand.

Gael Monfils lost to Diego Schwartzman, the eventual champion, in the quarterfinals.

Later in the year, Gael Monfils finally made the fourth round of Wimbledon for the first time in his career, losing to Kevin Anderson.

Gael Monfils won the eighth ATP Tour singles title of his career at the Rotterdam Open, defeating Stan Wawrinka in a three-set final.

Gael Monfils lost in a five set battle to the 24th seed Matteo Berrettini.

Gael Monfils finished the year in the top 10 at World No 10 since February 2017.

Gael Monfils won his second title of the year at the Rotterdam Open, successfully defending his title by defeating Felix Auger-Aliassime in the final.

Gael Monfils lost in the first round of the 2021 Australian Open to Emil Ruusuvuori in five sets.

Gael Monfils picked up his first win in over a year in Lyon, beating lucky loser Thiago Seyboth Wild in straight sets.

In Belgrade's second tournament, Gael Monfils lost to qualifier Roberto Carballes Baena in a third set tie-break.

At the French Open, Gael Monfils defeated Albert Ramos-Vinolas in 4 sets, after saving a set point in the second set tie-break.

At the 2021 Halle Open, Gael Monfils continued to struggle as he lost in the opening round to Lloyd Harris.

Gael Monfils lost in the opening round again, this time to qualifier Max Purcell.

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At the 2021 Canada Masters 1000, Gael Monfils made his first quarterfinal appearance of the year after defeating John Millman and Frances Tiafoe.

Gael Monfils became the 11th active player to reach 500 singles match wins.

Gael Monfils made his first semifinal of the year at the 2021 Moselle Open.

Gael Monfils lost in the semifinals to 2nd seed Pablo Carreno Busta in straight sets.

Gael Monfils pulled out of the second tournament with a neck injury against lucky loser Thiago Monteiro after being a break down in the third set.

At the Australian Open, Gael Monfils defeated Federico Coria, Alexander Bublik, 16th seed Cristian Garin and Miomir Kecmanovic to reach his first quarterfinal at the Australian Open since 2016, and first quarterfinal at any major since the 2019 US Open.

Gael Monfils is usually described as a baseliner who uses placement and consistency to beat his opponents.

Gael Monfils is well known for his athleticism and his court coverage, regularly using slides to retrieve balls, even on hard courts.

Gael Monfils has garnered a reputation for showmanship and high-risk shotmaking throughout his career.

Gael Monfils was sponsored by Nike for clothes and shoes but changed to K-Swiss in 2010.

Gael Monfils was sponsored by Head for racquets but changed to Prince in 2009 and Wilson in 2012.

At the start of the 2022 season, Gael Monfils switched his apparel and racquet sponsors to the French brand Decathlon's tennis line, Artengo.

Gael Monfils is nicknamed "La Monf", or occasionally "Sliderman" due to his unusual sliding technique, especially on clay surfaces.

Gael Monfils was considered an athletic prodigy at school and won the French under-13 and under-14 100m championships.

Gael Monfils's coach is on record as saying that Monfils could have made the Olympic 100m final, such was his talent.

Gael Monfils was coached by countryman and former ATP pro Thierry Champion but they parted company in September 2006.

Gael Monfils announced a partnership with a new coach, Tarik Benhabiles, in May 2007.

In 2011, Gael Monfils parted ways with Rasheed and announced that his fitness coach, Patrick Chamagne would take the reins as his new full-time coach.

Gael Monfils appeared in the music video for "Hello" by Martin Solveig and Dragonette.

On 15 May 2022, Svitolina and Gael Monfils announced they were expecting their first child together, a girl.

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