Gaël Monfils

Gaël Monfils
Gaël Monfils at Wimbledon in 2016
Nickname:	Lamonf, Sliderman
Nation:	France
Birthday:	September 1, 1986
Size:	193 cm
Weight:	85 kg
1st professional season:	2004
Playing hand:	Right, two-handed backhand
Trainer:	Liam Smith
Prize money:	$ 19,076,271
singles
Career record:	493: 274
Career title:	10
Highest ranking:	6 (November 7, 2016)
Current placement:	9
Grand Slam record
Double
Career record:	26:82
Highest ranking:	155 (August 8, 2011)
Grand Slam record
Mixed
Grand Slam record
Last update of the infobox: March 16, 2020
Sources: official player profiles at the ATP / WTA and ITF (see web links )

Gaël Sebastien Monfils (born September 1, 1986 in Paris ) is a French tennis player .

Personal

Gaël Monfils was born in Paris in 1986 and spent his childhood with his younger brother Daryl - also a tennis player - in the Paris suburb of Bobigny . His father Rufin, who comes from the French island of Guadeloupe , was an employee of a French telecommunications company and an active soccer player. His mother Sylvette, who comes from the French Caribbean island of Martinique , was a nurse .

He discovered tennis at the age of four. In addition, he was enthusiastic about basketball and soccer , and in his youth he also played in soccer youth teams. Although he was considered a great basketball talent, he decided early on to pursue a career as a tennis player.

During the Australian Open 2019 , his relationship with the Ukrainian tennis player Elina Switolina became known.

Monfils is based in the Swiss municipality of Trélex in the canton of Vaud . He is a supporter of the English soccer club Chelsea FC and the American basketball team Detroit Pistons .

Career

2004 to 2007: The first successes

Monfils won the Australian Open against Josselin Ouanna (6: 0, 6: 3) on the ITF Junior Tour . At the final of the French Open he won 6-2 and 6-2 against Alex Kuznetsov . He also emerged victorious from the Wimbledon Championships , winning the final against the British Miles Kasiri 7: 5, 7: 6. He won three of the four Grand Slam tournaments among the juniors. This was the last time Stefan Edberg had succeeded. At the end of the year he was number one in the junior world rankings with 2082.5 points.

Monfils won his first Challenger title , the second highest tournament category, in February 2005 in Besançon with 6: 3, 2: 6 and 6: 3 against Christophe Rochus . In May he won his second title in Tunis against Fabrice Santoro in three sets (7: 5, 3: 6, 7: 6). In August he achieved his first triumph on the ATP World Tour . He triumphed at the ATP tournament in Sopot , where he defeated Florian Mayer 7: 6, 4: 6 and 7: 5 in the final . The end of the year he also reached two finals: In Metz he lost to Ivan Ljubicic in straight sets in Lyon won Andy Roddick in the tournament. He ended the year for the first time in the top 100 of the world rankings in 31st place.

2007 to 2009: Entry into the top ten

Another Challenger tournament victory was achieved by Monfils in March 2007 against Andreas Seppi in Sunrise , although he rarely competed at this level because of his improved ranking. In the first three Grand Slam tournaments of the year, he reached the third round. He could not take part in the US Open due to a thigh injury.

His best result to date in a Grand Slam tournament was achieved at the French Open in 2008 , when he advanced to the semi-finals with a win over David Ferrer , where he lost in four sets to the then world number one Federer. At the Olympic Games he reached the quarter-finals, where he was eliminated in three sets against Đoković. He finished the season at number 14 in the world.

In 2009 Monfils suffered a wrist injury at a preparatory tournament for the Wimbledon Championships , the AEGON Championships at the Queen's Club , and therefore had to cancel his participation in Wimbledon. Monfils later reached the final of an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament for the first time with the final of the Paris Masters , but lost it with 2: 6, 7: 5 and 6: 7 (3: 7) against Đoković. During the season he held 9th place in the world rankings for four weeks, but fell back to 13th place at the end of the year.

2010 to 2012: top placement and bad luck with injuries

The 2010 season started slowly. Especially at the French Open , he fell short of expectations when he did not get beyond the second round. At the last Grand Slam tournament of the year, the US Open , he achieved his best result to date when he made it to the quarter-finals against his compatriot Richard Gasquet . As in 2009, he again reached the finals of the Paris Masters , where he failed this time to Robin Söderling .

In 2011 he lost to Stanislas Wawrinka in round three of the Australian Open . At the French Open in Paris , he reached the quarter-finals in front of a home crowd. At Wimbledon , Monfils did not get beyond the third round, in which he was defeated by Łukasz Kubot . In preparation for the US Open , he played at the Canada Masters and Cincinnati Masters . In both tournaments he reached the quarterfinals, where he lost to number one in the tennis world rankings , Novak Đoković. On July 3, 2011, he achieved his best place in the world rankings to date with rank 7. At the end of the season, he finished 16th.

At the beginning of the 2012 season he advanced to the finals of the Qatar ExxonMobil Open . In the semifinals he defeated Rafael Nadal in straight sets. He played the final against his friend and compatriot Jo-Wilfried Tsonga , to whom he lost in two sets. Monfils failed in the third round of the Australian Open against Kazakhs Mikhail Kukuschkin after being ahead by two sets. In February he lost the final at the ATP tournament in Montpellier in three sets against Tomáš Berdych .

From then on, 2012 was marked by injuries for Monfils. Due to a knee injury, he had to cancel almost all tournaments. He was also unable to participate in the Olympic Games in London due to the injury. He was replaced by Julien Benneteau . In November 2012, he separated from his trainer Patrick Chamagne. He did not initially announce a successor.

2013 to 2015: fall from the top 100

After surviving his knee injury, Monfils played his first preparation tournament in Doha in 2013 , where he reached the quarter-finals. At the tournament in Auckland he made it to the semi-finals, but lost it clearly in two sets against David Ferrer . At the Australian Open , after victories over Oleksandr Dolhopolow and Lu Yen-hsun in the third round, he faced fellow countryman Gilles Simon , against whom he lost just under five sets. After recurring knee problems, Monfils dropped out of the top 100 in the world rankings.

In March, Éric Winogradsky became the new Monfils coach. In May the collaboration was ended again. He had previously worked with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga . In April the Frenchman showed himself recovered, started the tournament in Houston and reached the round of 16. Monfils celebrated his fifth Challenger title with a wildcard in Bordeaux in mid-May . He won in straight sets against his compatriot Michaël Llodra . He also performed well at the tournament in Nice and reached the final, where he lost to Albert Montañés in two sets . At the French Open , where he started with a wildcard, he had to compete against Tomáš Berdych, who was fifth, in the first round. Monfils won the game in five sets. He failed in the third round to Tommy Robredo after being in the lead by two sets. This enabled him to move back into the top 70 in the world. Monfils started the lawn season at the tournament in Halle . There he reached the quarterfinals, where he lost to Tommy Haas in three sets. His ranking did not qualify him for the Wimbledon Championships (the qualifying date is a few weeks before the start of the tournament). After it was initially unclear whether he would receive a wildcard, he explained on the sidelines of the tournament in Halle that he would not participate for personal reasons. At the tournament in Stuttgart he reached the quarter-finals, where he failed in two sets to Philipp Kohlschreiber .

At the end of July Monfils took part in the tournament in Umag . He reached the semifinals, where he was defeated by Fabio Fognini in three sets. He achieved another success at the beginning of October at the Shanghai Masters , where he only lost 7: 6, 2: 6 and 4: 6 in three sets in the quarter-finals against seeding list leader Novak Đoković after 2 hours and 22 minutes. Previously, in the round of 16, Monfils had surprisingly defeated Roger Federer 6: 4, 6: 7 and 6: 3. After the tournament, Monfils moved up eleven positions to 31st in the world rankings.

At the beginning of the 2014 season he was able to reach the final in Doha , but lost it to Rafael Nadal in three sets. A little later he won the tournament in Montpellier against Richard Gasquet 6: 4, 6: 4. At the Australian Open and Wimbledon , he was eliminated early. At the French Open he was able to reach the quarterfinals, where he lost to Andy Murray . At the US Open , Monfils reached the quarterfinals as number 20 on the seeding list. There he met Roger Federer, to whom he was defeated in five sets after leading the set 2-0 and having his own match point in the fourth set. At the final of the Davis Cup in Lille he lost 3-1 with France to Switzerland. The year 2014 he finished in 18th place in the world rankings.

In the tennis year 2015 he was eliminated from all Grand Slam tournaments relatively early, he could only reach the round of 16 in Paris . At the tournament in Marseille he reached the final, which Monfils lost to Gilles Simon in three sets. At the Masters Tournament in Monte Carlo he reached the semifinals, but could not win this against Tomáš Berdych. Before that, he beat Roger Federer and Grigor Dimitrov in the tournament . In Stuttgart Monfils could still reach the semi-finals, which he lost to Rafael Nadal. In the remaining tournaments of the season, he was mostly eliminated early due to injuries. He finished the year in 24th place.

2016 to today: Comeback and entry into the top 10

At the Australian Open 2016 he was able to reach the quarter-finals for the first time in his career, but lost it to Milos Raonic . In Rotterdam , Monfils was able to reach the final, but lost to Martin Kližan in three sets. In April he was able to advance to the final in Monte Carlo , where he was defeated by the series winner of the tournament Rafael Nadal in three sets. At the French Open , he did not take part due to a virus infection. At Wimbledon , Monfils was eliminated in the first round. He then won a tournament in the ATP World Tour 500 series for the first time , namely the tournament in Washington, DC In the final, he beat Ivo Karlović 5: 7, 7: 6, 6: 4. At the Masters in Toronto he reached the semi-finals, but lost it smoothly against eventual tournament winner Novak Đoković. At the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro he reached the quarter-finals in singles, in doubles he was eliminated together with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the first round. At the US Open he was able to reach the semifinals for the first time, and that without losing a set. However, he could not win the semi-finals against Novak Đoković. Thanks to these successes in 2016, Monfils was able to qualify for the ATP World Tour Finals for the first time , but had to drop out after two games due to injury. He finished the year in ninth place, which was the best year-end position of his career.

The year 2017 was less successful, in all Grand Slams he reached a maximum of the last sixteen. He was able to move into the final of Eastbourne throughout the season , which Monfils lost to Novak Đoković in straight sets. At the end of the season he had to fight with injuries again, which is one of the reasons why he only finished the year in 46th place in the world rankings. He started the year 2018 with a tournament victory in Qatar , when he beat Andrei Rublev in the final 6: 2, 6: 3. In the first three Grand Slam tournaments he was moderately successful, Monfils could only reach the round of 16 at Wimbledon , where he lost to the eventual finalist Kevin Anderson in four tight sets.

Trainer

• September 2004 to September 2006: Thierry Champion
• May 2007 to early 2008: Tarik Benhabiles
• Early 2008 to 2011: Roger Rasheed
• 2011 to November 2012: Patrick Chamagne
• March 2013 to May 2013: Éric Winogradsky
• End of December 2014 to January 2016: Jan de Witt
• January 2016 to June 2018: Mikael Tillström
• December 2018 to date: Liam Smith

successes

Legend (number of victories) Grand Slam Tennis Masters Cup / ATP World Tour Finals ATP World Tour Masters 1000 ATP International Series Gold / ATP World Tour 500 (3) ATP International Series / ATP World Tour 250 (7) ATP Challenger Tour (6)

ATP title by topping Hard Court (9) Sand (1) Lawn (0) Carpet (0)

singles

Tournament victories

ATP World Tour

No.	date	competition	Topping	Final opponent	Result
1.	August 7, 2005	Sopot	sand	Florian Mayer	7: 6 6 , 4: 6, 7: 5
2.	September 27, 2009	Metz	Hard court (i)	Philipp Kohlschreiber	7: 6 1 , 3: 6, 6: 2
3.	October 31, 2010	Montpellier (1)	Hard court (i)	Ivan Ljubičić	6: 2, 5: 7, 6: 1
4th	October 23, 2011	Stockholm	Hard court (i)	Jarkko Nieminen	7: 5, 3: 6, 6: 2
5.	February 9, 2014	Montpellier (2)	Hard court (i)	Richard Gasquet	6: 4, 6: 4
6th	July 25, 2016	Washington, DC	Hard court	Ivo Karlović	5: 7, 7: 6 6 , 6: 4
7th	January 6, 2018	Doha	Hard court	Andrei Rublev	6: 2, 6: 3
8th.	17th February 2019	Rotterdam (1)	Hard court (i)	Stan Wawrinka	6: 3, 1: 6, 6: 2
9.	February 8, 2020	Montpellier (3)	Hard court	Vasek Pospisil	7: 5, 6: 3
10.	February 16, 2020	Rotterdam (2)	Hard court (i)	Félix Auger-Aliassime	6: 2, 6: 4

ATP Challenger Tour

No.	date	competition	Topping	Final opponent	Result
1.	February 20, 2005	Besançon	Hard court (i)	Christophe Rochus	6: 3, 2: 6, 6: 3
2.	May 1, 2005	Tunis	sand	Fabrice Santoro	7: 5, 3: 6, 7: 6 9
3.	March 18, 2007	Sunrise	Hard court	Andreas Seppi	6: 3, 1: 6, 6: 1
4th	May 17, 2008	Marrakech	sand	Jérémy Chardy	7: 6 2 , 7: 6 6
5.	May 19, 2013	Bordeaux	sand	Michaël Llodra	7: 5, 7: 6 5
6th	23rd September 2018	Kaohsiung	Hard court	Kwon Soon-woo	6: 4, 2: 6, 6: 1

Final participation

ATP World Tour

No.	date	competition	Topping	Final opponent	Result
1.	October 9, 2005	Metz	Hard court (i)	Ivan Ljubičić	6: 7 7 , 0: 6
2.	October 30, 2005	Lyon	Carpet (i)	Andy Roddick	3: 6, 2: 6
3.	January 7, 2006	Doha (1)	Hard court	Roger Federer	3: 6, 6: 7 5
4th	May 26, 2007	Pörtschach	sand	Juan Mónaco	6: 7 3 , 3: 6
5.	October 12, 2008	Vienna	Hard court (i)	Philipp Petzschner	4: 6, 4: 6
6th	February 28, 2009	Acapulco	sand	Nicolás Almagro	4: 6, 4: 6
7th	November 15, 2009	Paris (1)	Hard court (i)	Novak Đoković	2: 6, 7: 5, 6: 7 3
8th.	July 18, 2010	Stuttgart	sand	Albert Montañés	2: 6, 2: 1 problem
9.	October 10, 2010	Tokyo	Hard court	Rafael Nadal	1: 6, 5: 7
10.	November 14, 2010	Paris (2)	Hard court (i)	Robin Soderling	1: 6, 6: 7 1
11.	August 7, 2011	Washington, DC	Hard court	Radek Štěpánek	4: 6, 4: 6
12.	January 7, 2012	Doha (2)	Hard court	Jo-Wilfried Tsonga	5: 7, 3: 6
13.	5th February 2012	Montpellier	Hard court (i)	Tomáš Berdych	2: 6, 6: 4, 3: 6
14th	May 25, 2013	Nice	sand	Albert Montañés	0: 6, 6: 7 3
15th	August 24, 2013	Winston-Salem	Hard court	Jürgen Melzer	3: 6, 1: 2 problem
16.	5th January 2014	Doha (3)	Hard court	Rafael Nadal	1: 6, 7: 6 5 , 2: 6
17th	February 22, 2015	Marseille	Hard court (i)	Gilles Simon	4: 6, 6: 1, 6: 7 4
18th	February 14, 2016	Rotterdam	Hard court (i)	Martin Kližan	7: 6 1 , 3: 6, 1: 6
19th	17th April 2016	Monte Carlo	sand	Rafael Nadal	5: 7, 7: 5, 0: 6
20th	July 1, 2017	Eastbourne	race	Novak Đoković	3: 6, 4: 6
21st	October 21, 2018	Antwerp	Hard court (i)	Kyle Edmund	6: 3, 6: 7 2 , 6: 7 4

statistics

singles

Tournament 1	2018	2017	2016	2015	2014	2013	2012	2011	2010	2009	2008	2007	2006	2005	2004	total
Australian Open	2R	AF	VF	2R	3R	3R	3R	3R	3R	AF	-	3R	1R	2R	-	0
French Open	3R	AF	-	AF	VF	3R	-	VF	2R	VF	HF	3R	AF	1R	-	0
Wimbledon	AF	3R	1R	3R	2R	-	-	3R	3R	-	-	3R	1R	3R	-	0
US Open	2R	3R	HF	1R	VF	2R	-	2R	VF	AF	AF	-	2R	1R	-	0
ATP Finals 2		-	RR	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	0
Indian Wells Masters		AF	VF	-	3R	-	-	-	2R	2R	1R	1R	3R	2R	-	0
Miami Masters		-	VF	AF	2R	-	3R	-	-	AF	2R	1R	2R	AF	-	0
Monte Carlo Masters		-	F.	HF	2R	1R	-	AF	-	1R	AF	1R	1R	1R	-	0
Madrid Masters 3		1R	2R	2R	-	-	AF	2R	VF	-	VF	-	1R	1R	-	0
Rome Masters		-	1R	-	-	-	2R	-	-	-	-	1R	HF	-	-	0
Hamburg Masters 4	not carried out										-	1R	-	-	-	0
Canada Masters		AF	HF	2R	2R	-	-	VF	AF	2R	1R	-	-	-	-	0
Cincinnati Masters		-	AF	1R	AF	-	-	VF	1R	1R	2R	-	2R	AF	-	0
Shanghai Masters		-	AF	-	-	VF	-	-	2R	2R	not carried out					0
Paris Masters		-	-	1R	AF	-	-	2R	F.	F.	AF	-	2R	2R	2R	0
Olympic games	n / A		VF	not carried out			-	not carried out			VF	not carried out			-	0
Davis Cup 5		-	HF	VF	F.	VF	VF	HF	F.	PO	-	-	-	-	-	0
Tournament participation 6	0	14th	18th	18th	16	22nd	10	18th	20th	20th	17th	21st	19th	23	2	238
Finals reached	0	1	3	1	2	2	2	2	4th	3	1	2	1	3	0	26th
Individual titles won	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	1	1	1	0	1	0	1	0	6th
Hard court wins / defeats	2: 2	12: 7	37:13	16:10	24:10	16:12	16: 7	22: 8	36:14	33:15	18:11	6:10	8:11	12:10	3: 2	260: 140
Sand victories / defeats	0: 1	3: 4	7: 3	12: 5	10: 3	15: 9	3: 3	11: 6	8: 4	8: 4	9: 5	12: 8	9: 6	6: 7	0-0	113: 67
Turf wins / defeats	3: 1	5: 3	0: 1	6: 3	2: 2	2: 1	0-0	5: 2	2: 2	1-0	3: 1	3: 3	3: 2	2: 3	0-0	37:24
Carpet wins / defeats 7	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	5: 2	0-0	5: 2
Overall wins / defeats 8	5: 4	20:14	44:17	34:18	36:15	33:22	19:10	38:16	46:20	42:19	30:17	21:21	20:19	25:22	3: 2	415: 235
World ranking points	-	1015	3625	1485	1900	1230	660	1910	2560	2610	1475	742	795	979	164	N / A
Year-end position	-	46	7th	24	18th	31	78	16	12	13	14th	38	46	31	231	N / A

Double

Tournament 1	2018	2017	2016	2015	2014	2013	2012	2011	2010	2009	2008	2007	2006	2005	2004	2003	total
Australian Open		-	-	-	1R	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1R	-	-	-	1R
French Open		-	-	1R	1R	1R	-	1R	2R	-	1R	2R	1R	1R	-	-	2R
Wimbledon		-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
US Open		-	-	-	-	-	-	1R	1R	-	-	-	-	1R	-	-	1R
Double titles won	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Overall wins / defeats 2	0-0	2: 2	0: 1	2: 9	0: 6	0: 5	2: 5	3: 8	5:10	1: 2	1: 6	2: 3	3: 7	2:10	0: 1	0-0	23:75
Year-end position	(312)	312	-	376	-	-	552	273	202	524	587	365	391	302	720	1188	N / A

Explanation of symbols: S = tournament victory; F, HF, VF, AF = entry into the final / semi-finals / quarter-finals / round of 16; 1R, 2R, 3R = elimination in the 1st / 2nd / 3rd main round; RR = Round Robin (group stage)

¹ tournament result in brackets means that the player has not yet finished the tournament; it shows its current tournament status.
² before 2009 Tennis Masters Cup
³ The Masters tournament in Madrid was held before 2002 in Stuttgart, Essen and Stockholm. In 2009 the surface was changed from hard court to sand.
⁴ The Hamburg tournament has not been part of the Masters series since 2009.
⁵ PO = playoff (promotion and relegation round in the Davis Cup world group).
⁶ In contrast to the ATP ranking , only tournaments of the ATP World Tour as well as the four Grand Slam tournaments and the ATP World Tour Finals are counted here (as well as for the number of finals and titles won) . H. no Challenger or Future tournaments or team competitions ( Davis Cup or World Team Cup ). However, the latter count in the win / lose statistics.
⁷ No more ATP tournaments have been held on carpet since the 2009 season.
⁸ As of the end of the 2017 season

Others

Gaël Monfils made a small appearance in the music video of the song Hello by Martin Solveig and Dragonette in 2010.

Web links

Commons : Gaël Monfils  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• ATP profile of Gaël Monfils (English)
• ITF profile Gaël Monfils (English)
• Davis Cup stats by Gaël Monfils (English)
• Official website of Gaël Monfils (French)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ New tennis dream couple: Svitolina and Monfils in love-happiness. In: mytennis.info. January 19, 2019, accessed February 17, 2019 . 
2. ↑ Year-End Rankings. In: itftennis.com. Retrieved September 21, 2018 . 
3. ↑ Monfils has to pass at Wimbledon. In: spox.com. June 19, 2009. Retrieved September 21, 2018 . 
4. ↑ French Open: Monfils cancels start. In: focus.de. May 24, 2012, accessed September 21, 2018 . 
5. ↑ Injured Monfils cancels for the Olympics. In: focus.de. July 21, 2012, accessed September 21, 2018 . 
6. ↑ Struggling Monfils splits from coach Chamagne. In: eurosport.com. November 16, 2012, accessed September 21, 2018 . 
7. ↑ Monfils grabs Tsonga's ex-coach. In: spox.com. March 13, 2013, accessed September 21, 2018 . 
8. ^ Monfils gets wild card entry. In: sport24.co.za. March 15, 2013, accessed on September 21, 2018 . 
9. ^ Wimbledon: Mahut et Monfils demand une wild card. In: linfo.re. June 4, 2013, accessed on September 21, 2018 (French). 
10. ↑ Monfils cancels start at Wimbledon. In: focus.de. June 12, 2013, accessed September 21, 2018 . 
11. ↑ Angry Djokovic keeps a clean slate against Monfils. In: spox.com. October 11, 2013, accessed September 21, 2018 .