Gaël Monfils – All about the French tennis player

gael monfils

Gaël Monfils is a French professional tennis player. He currently stands at a career-high ranking of World No. 6 in singles, making him the highest ranked French player. His career best performances include reaching two major semi finals, the 2008 French Open and the 2016 US Open. He has also made it to the finals of three ATP Masters 1000 tournaments. 

In 2005, Monfils was named ATP Newcomer of the Year. To date, he has won an astonishing eleven ATP Tour singles titles and was runner up twenty-two times, making it to at least one ATP Tour singles finals every year since 2005. Playing at the Masters at the 2021 Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati, he reached the last 16 defeating Alex De Minaur to claim his 500th win in his career on the ATP tour. This important milestone made him the 11th active player to reach 500 singles match wins.

Bio table

Age 35
Height 1.93 meters
Nationality France
Coaches Thierry Champion, Tarik Benhabiles, Roger Rasheed,

Patrick Champagne, Jan de Witt, Mikael Tillström,

Liam Smith, Richard Ruckelshausen,

Günter Bresnik

Prize money US$ 20,680,474
Highest ranking No. 6
Current ranking No. 24
Social media profile Instagram – @iamgaelmonfils

Personal Information and Relationships

  • Gaël Sébastien Monfils was born on 1st September, 1986, in Paris.
  • His father Rufin Monfils is from Guadeloupe, who is also a former football player. He also worked as a France Telecom employee.
  • Monfils’ mother Sylvette Cartesse is from Martinique and worked as a nurse.
  • He also goes by his nickname La Monf or Sliderman, on occasion
  • He has a younger brother Daryl who also plays tennis. They have played together as well in doubles.
  • Monfils publicly announced his relationship with WTA tennis player, Elina Svitolina in 2019. They were engaged in April, 2021 & got married in July that year.

Career

  • Junior career – Monfils had quite an impressive win-loss record of 83-32 that rocketed him to Junior World No. 1, in February, 2004. He also won the International Tennis Federation youth world championship.
  • 2004 – Monfils made his ATP debut, achieved his first ATP win and made it to the quarter finals for the first time. He closed the season at World No. 239. This was indeed a commendable jump from his previous rating of World no. 925, at the start of the year. 
  • 2005 – He won his first ATP title at the Idea Prokom Open in Sopot. He also closed the season as Frenchman no. 3.
  • 2006 – Monfils had a steady run and made it to the Top 25 ATP rankings. He did not have much success at Wimbledon though that year.
  • 2007 – Monfils touched 50 career singles wins this year
  • 2008 – He made it to his first Grand Slam semi finals at the French Open.
  • 2009 – Monfils won his second ATP title and made it to his first Masters final.
  • 2010 – He won his third ATP title at Open Sud de France
  • 2011 – Monfils achieved 200 career singles wins and also made it to the top 10, ranking at World No. 7.
  • 2012 – Though Monfils has been no stranger to injuries in the past, this year saw him get quite a few injuries leading him to pull out from tournaments and end the season early. 
  • 2013 – Monfils made a decent comeback and managed to enter the Top 40 again
  • 2014 – Monfils achieved 300 career singles wins this year
  • 2015 – He entered the Top 15 again with his steady performance.
  • 2016 – He did quite well this year, making it to the semi finals of the US Open, achieving his first ATP 500 title and breaking his way back into the Top 10, ranking at World no. 6, his career-best ranking to date.
  • 2017 – Monfils achieved 400 singles career wins
  • 2018 – This year saw a few setbacks but he managed to make it to the fourth round of Wimbledon for the first time in his career.
  • 2019 – Monfils won his eighth ATP singles title and made it to the quarterfinals of the US Open for the third time.
  • 2020 – He achieved his ninth and tenth ATP singles title this year.
  • 2021 – Monfils managed to hit the milestone of 500 ATP career singles wins.
  • 2022 – Back in the game, Monfils achieved his eleventh ATP singles career title and made it to the quarterfinal at the Australian Open for the second time.

Prize Money Earnings and net worth

Throughout his extensive tennis career, Monfils has won a whopping US$ 20,680,474 as prize money. He also has additional earnings from sponsorship deals and his net worth is estimated to be around $10 Million.

Endorsements and Sponsored

  • Asics – A brand that deals in shoes, apparel, accessories and fitness gear.
  • Wilson – A Sporting Goods Company is an American sports equipment manufacturer based in Chicago, Illinois. He has used the Wilson Ultra Tour racket.
  • Rokit – A next-generation global media company engaged in multiple aspects of content production and distribution, including movies, television, sports, music, and drinks.

Trivia

  • Monfils is the 21st all-time leader in earnings as a tennis player.
  • He is known to often put his own enjoyment and the crowd’s enjoyment above winning or losing.