TThe curtain came to another beloved tennis star: the veteran of the French player Gael Montfils will resign at the end of the 2026 season, his 22nd year in the men's round. In a message on social networks announcing the news on Wednesday, Montfils made an optimistic tone, thanking his family and fans, taking off his cap on the range of opponents with whom he was privileged to encounter the Golden Age; Among his references were Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic – the only one in the group that is still playing. And although the story probably remembers the 39-year-old Monfils, whose resume includes almost 600 victories in matches, the best rating of 6 in his career and more than $ 24 million. The United States on the court, as one of the most unfortunate victims of the Big Four era, it earns a convincing counterargument for the statistics style.
Federer, Nadal, Murray and Djokovic can have all the names. But while they suppressed the tennis muscle for three generations, Montfils became the most dazzling performer of the era. For many years, American tennis commentators grumbled that the home Federation did not do enough to remove the best young athlete of the country from other sports, and make American tennis again. But now it is obvious that the player they built in their minds was Montfilis: a 6-foot 4-inch kkein fast tendons, with his own strike by the devil for a good measure. In his own message on social networks, the worthy coach Patrick Muratoglu formulated the resignation of his compatriot as a mighty blow to sports. “Tennis needs players like him,” he wrote. “They are so rare.” Sports Wunderkind from elementary school, Montfils emphasized his special talent after he won at the French championship up to 13 years and up to 14 million years to 14 years. His athletics coach at that time thought that he could make the final of the sprint of the Olympic Games alone.
The main coil for Monfilse's career looks like something from the NBA Inside Stuff: Tomahawking overhead, blind pull-ups that cut the line, Rodman-Extense Oltivevals. For the first time I saw Monfils playing close, in the third round of the 2018 US Open, against the 2002 Wimbledon finalist David Nalbanyan, I could not believe what I saw: a dirty baller, sliding around a hard courtyard in Louis Armstrong, when his poor sneakers swam for relief. His exploits Marvel in the court rightfully inspired the raft of the nickname-Slider-Man, Flying Frenchman. In the end, he went with La Monf, the tenderness period dates from childhood. The fact that he had publicly available speaks of the teams of great respect to Montfils from the fans, when, trying to bring his personal turn on his favorites.
It would be difficult for you to find any stories about how Monfille, allowing the hype of the superhero to go to his head: no icy fan interactions, no media, without selfish spirals. But this is not in order to take Montfils for another insensitive robe. Where Federer or Murray can dismiss the ugly winner as a regular shine, La Monf Oh, thereS along with his Gawkers – as if simple mortal vessels for the divine. Djokovic, who first played Monfils in the opening external court of the United States in 2005, called him one of the best athletes, whom he once saw in the recent tribute – and he is hardly one to exaggerate. I suspect that there are a sufficient number of Monfils's unbending, who pay to watch how he hit the balls on the garage door, just to see what sight he can do with this. “I always admired you,” wrote the director of Madrid Open Tournament Feliciano López, who only encountered Monfils twice during his dull long career and both broke it.
In general, Montfils was supposed to be an opponent soon. The son of a professional football player born in Guadeloup, Montfils set expectations as a 15-year-old younger player who entered into an open trip to the United States to score a calendar blow in 2004. He later became a professional and was faced with national pressure to consolidate tennis renaissance along with Joe Wilphried Tsongoga, Richard Gamket and Gils Simon; Hope was that it was New musketeer It would be as dominant as Quartet under the leadership of Rene Lacosta, fixed in Roland Garros. But in the end, four Montfils musketeers did not fit for a large four.
Only Tsonga got into the final of the Big helmet and lost to Djokovic at the 2008 Australia Open Championship for the first of the record 24 Serb. The gasket never became further than the semifinals of Wimbledon and US Open, and Simon was twice a helmet-f or fusser. Meanwhile, Montfils traveled at the French branch of 2008 until he encountered Federer in the semifinals, and making his way through the 2016 open bracket, until he drew Jokovic in the semifinal, which makes tennis for the juicy history of tennis, if. If Montfils reached the finals, he would have met Stan Vavrinka from Switzerland, who defeated Jokovic for his third and last major. Until that moment, Montfils essentially had a coin record against Wawrinka, colleagues federer, who became a legitimate legend, it would seem, out of nowhere. It is tempting to think about what could be the best showman of the game, along with the greatest destruction of the era for a kind of Super Cup in style. Vavrinka dishes porn.
It is preferred that Montfils's failures led to strict control: that he chose a spectacle according to the strategy, about his fundamentally defensive style of the game, about his alleged lack of commitment. At the beginning of his career, Montfils criticized the tour without a devoted coach when Federer was the only player who got away with him. But, looking back that the coach will tell Montfils that he has not yet heard from the crowd, which he regularly charges? (Some version: Nononoyssss!), Cool, having lost to Federer in direct networks at a stop in 2006 in Doha, Montfils struck his way to the tennis tournament in Las Vegas and replaced the best tennis player in the world on the way to victory as a whole, Shebang. The longer you encourage Monfils, the more you will learn how to accept the good with the bad and just sit back and enjoy the trip.
Now that Montfils completes the last corner to fully allow himself in #girldadlife with his partner Forever Double, the former world No. 3 Elina Svitolina, it seems that the road will not pass in second place. In January, Montfils became the oldest player who won the ATP tournament, announcing his 13th title 20 years after his first, at least, at least one Write down Federer. Since 2005, Montfils reached at least one finals in a solitary category every year for 19 years in a row – a feat, only Djokovic and Podal were equal. The head in the face of racial hostility adhered to the Monfile, and its wider influence as a cultural pioneer is a legacy that is almost not enough. Naomi Osaka, the partner of US Open Doubles in Montfils, was among the evening of peers, who called the Frenchman as inspiration.
No, Montfils did not defeat the big four, but he still has a chance against the big two – assuming that he can return to the normal injuries of his wrists and ankles and catch Carlos Alcaras or Jannik Sinner. Otherwise, the game plan remains the same: keep modest expectations, stay at the moment and give people what they want. “You could have, you must have “I never thought so,” he wrote, “and, frankly, I'm too old to start it now.” Life is too short. Believe me, when I say that I am not sorry. “
Today, most of the sports discourse is feverish competition to prove who is better, taking the inventory of trophies, rings and other brilliant trinkets. But, playing tennis on its own conditions and with only energy and panach, Monfils stands out as a sharp example of valor in protecting the internal kingdom of itself. Enjoy the show while you can.
