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Gaël Monfils Takes Final Bow at Roland Garros

The French showman, known for his entertaining flair, played his last act at the French Open. 
Jon Wertheim|
Gaël Monfils announced he would retire at the end of the 2026 season.
Gaël Monfils announced he would retire at the end of the 2026 season. | Robert Prange/Getty Images

You knew it had to happen eventually, but that doesn’t make it any less disappointing. One of the great tennis acts has reached the end of his run … and jump … and flick … and dash.

For more than 20 years, Gaël Monfils didn’t play professional tennis, so much as he performed it. If entertainment value could be converted into ranking points, then Monfils would have taken his place alongside contemporaries like Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.

For our money, the best pure athlete in the sport’s history, Monfils lived by his own sporting code: If it ain’t Baroque, don’t fix it. Monfils was described in terms usually reserved for French artists, not French athletes. He was bold, daring, shocking and expressive. He resisted convention. The court was his canvas.

But Monfils—who played his final Roland Garros match on Monday at 39 years old—bolstered his style with substance.

He was a top-shelf player, ranked as high as No. 6. He is the winner of 13 titles on a variety of surfaces and a semifinalist at multiple majors.

In 2021, he married his longtime girlfriend, Ukrainian star Elina Svitolina, and revealed himself to be a present, supportive and committed husband and father.

For all of Monfils’s flights of fancy and his he-did-not-just-do-that shotmaking, can you name one moment of off-court controversy? One regrettable quote? This was all joy and box office value, with no complicated artistic B-side.

In the end, he stands for the proposition that creativity matters and that those who take pleasure in their work bring pleasure to others. 

Take a bow, Gaël Monfils. What a show you gave us.

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Jon Wertheim
JON WERTHEIM

Jon Wertheim is a senior writer for Sports Illustrated and has been part of the full-time SI writing staff since 1997, largely focusing on the tennis beat, sports business and social issues, and enterprise journalism. In addition to his work at SI, he is a correspondent for “60 Minutes” and a commentator for The Tennis Channel. He has authored 11 books and has been honored with two Emmys, numerous writing and investigative journalism awards, and the Eugene Scott Award from the International Tennis Hall of Fame. Wertheim is a longtime member of the New York Bar Association (retired), the International Tennis Writers Association and the Writers Guild of America. He has a bachelor’s in history from Yale University and received a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania. He resides in New York City and Paris with his wife, who is a divorce mediator and adjunct law professor. They have two children.

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