Tennis
Gael Monfils officially retired: he told the ITIA, not the public
Gael Monfils, 40, has appeared on the ITIA retired players list since 5 October. The agency, which the player notified himself, confirms that he can no longer enter ATP tournaments.
by Camille Vasseur · 2 min read
On 3 September, on court Louis-Armstrong, Gael Monfils went down in the US Open second round against the American Learner Tien. He has not played since. And since 5 October, his name has sat on the retired players list published by the ITIA, the body that runs anti-doping in tennis.
On Wednesday morning, the agency confirmed it to L’Équipe and the AFP: Gael Monfils, 40, is now considered officially retired, and therefore no longer allowed to enter ATP tournaments. “He informed us himself,” the head of ITIA communications told We Love Tennis: the player notified the agency directly, without explaining himself in public.
A farewell that was meant to go through Lyon and Paris
The plan was written down: a wild card for the ATP 250 in Lyon, then the Rolex Paris Masters, where the Frenchman wanted to finish. It will not happen. On X, José Morgado, reported by We Love Tennis, had already put it plainly: “Gael Monfils won’t play the Paris Masters. His last tournament was the US Open.”
And if he ever wanted one more match, the door is narrow: a retired player must go back through “six months of out-of-competition testing before returning to competition, as Serena Williams did”, the ITIA points out.
The career record: thirteen singles titles, two Grand Slam semi-finals (Roland Garros 2008, US Open 2016), three Masters 1000 finals (Paris 2009 and 2010, Monte Carlo 2016) and a career-high ranking of world No. 6, reached in 2016. He was the last of France’s Musketeers still on tour, after the retirements of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Gilles Simon and Richard Gasquet.
“The next chapter will be in finance”
On the retirement itself, the man concerned has not spoken in public; to the ITIA, he simply let the agency know. What comes next had already been set out in a press conference: “The next chapter will be in finance. I’m going to be a wealth manager at a Swiss firm called Alphaswiss,” he said, with a wish to stay active.
What remains is an exit through the back door: no announcement, no farewell, a name added to a list. The draws in Lyon and at the Rolex Paris Masters will be played without him.