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Gael Monfils. Photo by Tatiana from Moscow, Russia.

Top 10 Outstanding Facts about Gaël Monfils

Gaël Sébastien Monfils is a French professional tennis player who was born on 1^st September 1986 in Â鶹APP, France.

Monfils was ranked by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) as World No. 6 in November 2016 when he achieved the ranking.

Some of his career highlights include reaching two major semifinals at the 2008 French open and 2016 US Open and three ATP Masters 1000 finals among others.

 Among the current French tennis players, Monfils is ranked the highest.

The top 10 outstanding facts about Gaël Monfils include the following.

1. Monfils Was Crowned the International Tennis Federation Youth World Champion in 2002

Wimbledon Centre Court. Photo by GATORFAN2525.

In January 2002 while aged 15 years and in grade 4, Monfils played his first junior match competition which was held in Sweden.

 In February, 2004 in his junior career, he compiled a singles win-loss record of 83-22, reaching the No. 1 junior world ranking.

He won the boys’ singles titles at the Australian Open, the French Open and Wimbledon respectively over the course of that year.

  Monfils was crowned the International Tennis Federation youth world champion during his junior career.

His third-round loss to Viktor Troicki at the US Open is what ended his win streak at junior grand slams.

2. Monfils Participated and Won Several Tournaments During His Youthful Career

Marcos Baghdatis. Photo by me (w:User:Akademan).

Monfils won the German Junior Open and finished runner-up at the Dutch Junior Open in 2002. 

During the same year, he represented France in the Junior Davis Cup and was ranked No.4 in the world that year.

Monfils was a semifinalist at Orange Bowl losing to Marcos Baghdatis and at the USTA International Winter Championships where he lost to Sebastian Rieschick in 2003.

He lost to Florin Mergea at the quarterfinals of the Australian Open juniors’ tournament in 2003.

He finished the year 2003 ranked No. 21 at the junior rankings after winning the doubles titles together with Josselin Ouanna at the Victorian Junior Championships.

3. Monfils Officially Turned Professional In 2004 While at The Age Of 17

Xavier Malisse. Photo by Carine06 from UK.

Monfils turned professional while at the age of 17 in 2004. He made his Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) debut as a pro at the 2004 Open de Moselle.

During the tournament he defeated 2^nd seed Xavier Malisse in the first round for his first ever ATP win after receiving a wild card into the main draw.

However, he lost at the quarterfinals to a fellow wildcard and junior and eventual finalist in straights sets Richard Gasquet. 

He qualified for the 2004 Â鶹APP Masters, his first Masters 1000 tournament three weeks later.

He defeated former world number 4 Thomas Enqvist in the first round before losing in straight sets to 2nd seed and world number 3 Lleyton Hewitt.

4. Monfils Captured His First ATP Title One Year After Turning Professional

Fabrice Santoro. Photo by Alexisrael.

Monfils made one of the biggest moves in the top 50 from the previous season by climbing 200 ranking spots and capturing his first ATP title just one year after turning pro.

He won Challenger titles defeating Christophe Rochus and Fabrice Santoro in Besançon and Tunis respectively just six months in 2005.

He defeated Florian Mayer in the final at the Idea Prokom Open in Sopot and went 15–8, highlighted by his first ATP clay title.

5. Monfils Broke the Top 25 And Became the No. 1 Player in France in 2006

Roger Federer. Photo by Tatiana from Moscow, Russia.

Monfils lost to world No. 1 Roger Federer at the finals of his first tournament of 2006 in two sets in Doha.

He proceeded to oust world No.1 paddle tennis player Scott Freedman and won the paddle tennis tournament in Las Vegas.

He reached the semifinals of the Rome Masters but lost in straight sets to Rafael Nadal  who was the eventual winner in May of 2006.

Monfils defeated World No. 1 Andy Murray in the first round of the French Open during the same time after a tough battle. 

Monfils defeated the eighth seeded American James Blake who was the tournament’s favorite.

Monfils moved up five positions to reach a then career high of No. 23 as a result of his performance at the French Open

At No 23, he moved two positions ahead of Sébastien Grosjean and became the No 1 player in France.

6. Monfils Had to Pull Out of Some Competitions Due to Injury

In 2006, Monfils was ruled out of the Nottingham Open due to injury. Monfils made it to the semifinals of the 2007 Legg Mason Tennis Classic.

The American John Isner defeated him in three tiebreaks during the semifinals.

A hamstring injury made him pull out of the 2007 US Open and the same injury further made him withdraw from the 2008 Australian Open.

In 2008 Monfils was forced to withdraw from Wimbledon shortly before he was due to play his first-round match due to a shoulder injury.

Monfils withdrew from both the Rome Masters and the Madrid Masters due a recent knee injury, caused by Osgood-Schlatter disease in 2009.

 In 2012 and also in many subsequent fixtures up to the current, Monfils withdrew at different times from some of them due to various injuries.

7. Monfils Reached His First Masters Final In 2009

Monfils easily won his first-round match against Bobby Reynolds at the French Open in 2009. In the second round he overcame Victor Crivoi to complete another straight-set victory.

Monfils displayed the most spectacular plays when he beat Jürgen Melzer in four sets. He hit a diving shot back to Melzer, sliding to save another point of Melzer and then putting the point away which was simply outstanding.  

At Kuala Lumpur in 2009 he was beaten in straight sets by Nikolay Davydenko at the quarterfinals of the Malaysian Open which he had managed to reach despite jet lag.

Monfils made his first Masters final, where he was defeated by Novak Djokovic at the Â鶹APP Masters in 2009. Since then he has reached three ATP Masters 1000 finals.

8. Monfils Won His First ATP 500 Title and Career-High Ranking of No. 6 In 2016

In July 2016, Monfils earned his first ever ATP World Tour 500 Series singles title. 

He defeated Croatian Ivo Karlović in the final in three sets on the hard courts of the Citi Open in Washington, D.C.

All of his previous ATP World Tour singles titles came under the ATP World Tour 250 Series category.  This win improved his ranking to a career high of No. 6.

9. Monfils Is A Baseliner Who Uses Placement and Consistency to Beat His Opponents

Monfils has been described as relying on placement and consistency to beat his opponents and has been understood to be a baseliner.

He regularly uses slides to retrieve balls, even on hard courts and is known for his court courage and athleticism.

He surprises many opponents by his ability and speed to go from defense to offense. His ability to generate tremendous pace on his groundstrokes off both wings has been demonstrated on many occasions.

His serve can reach 230 kilometers per hour while still accurate and strong.

10. Monfils Is Sponsored by Renowned Brands and Was Coached by A Former ATP Pro

Some of the renowned brands who have sponsored Monfils clothes and shoes include Nike and K-Swiss in 2010.

Prince and Wilson brands provided his apparel and equipment in 2009 and 2012 respectively.

Currently he is using Wilson H19 racquet in Ultra Tour/pro paintjob while in the 2022 season the French brand Decathlon’s tennis line, Artengo will sponsor his apparel and racquets.

Since September 2004 Monfils was coached by country man and former ATP pro Thierry Champion.

 In September 2006 they parted ways and has since changed coaches and at one time shared a coach with fellow countryman Gilles Simon.