Top 10 Memorable Matches of Gael Monfils at Roland-Garros

10. Forgettable game, tasty revenge

Year 2014
3e tour
Adversaire : Fabio Fognini
Victoire 5-7, 6-2, 6-4, 0-6, 6-2

Four years after a famous duel in 5 sets won by the Italian, Monfils and Fognini meet again in Paris, this time on the Suzanne-Lenglen. For the personality of the two men and their common past, Roland-Garros expects a lot from this reunion. The match, of a very moderate quality, to be nice, and particularly disjointed, disappoints. 137 unforced errors between them, they outdid themselves. “It wasn’t impressive, but it was very taxing“, assures Monfils. But if this match appears here, it is a little for its suspense and a lot for the sweet revenge that this victory constituted for him.

9. Confused and Regretful

Year: 2018
3e tour
Opponent: David Goffin
Victoire 6-7, 6-3, 4-6, 7-5, 6-3

Epic as usual. Arrived Porte d’Auteuil without landmarks or results, Gaël Monfils fights another huge fight against a David Goffin then at his best level. Barely on Friday and saved by the night before vomiting when he left the court, the Parisian was much more dashing the next day under the Lenglen sun. But his physique will still let him go. Failing to convert his four match points at the end of the 4th set (stricken with cramps, he gets confused nicely with the Belgian and even takes a penalty point!), He sees the match slipping through his fingers.

8. Blake, the first performance at 19

Year: 2006
3e tour
Opponent: James Blake
Victoire 6-2, 6-7, 7-6, 5-7, 6-4

One of his first great Grand Slam performances since James Blake was then one of the 10 best players in the world. Even if the American is less comfortable on earth than elsewhere, for the 19-year-old Monfils, it is then a significant victory. A match played in two days and which not only allowed Gaël to climb for the first time in the second week in Paris (he will lose against another youngster named Novak Djokovic) and to become French number one, another novelty for him.

7. The feat against Berdych

Year 2013
1er tour
Opponent: Tomas Berdych
Victoire 7-6, 6-4, 6-7, 6-7, 7-5

Casually, one of the Frenchman’s biggest Grand Slam victories in terms of ranking. However, he was at the bottom of the wave when he arrived in Paris that year. After a series of injuries, Monfils even left the Top 100, which he returned to fifteen days before Roland-Garros. In the 1st round, he hits the jackpot with Tomas Berdych, 6th in the world and seeded number 5. But on the Chatrier, he plays one of his favorite scores, that of the renaissance.

Friend Gaël had to fight for more than four hours after squandering a two-set lead. But it was he who had the last word in a suffocating last set where he saved four break points before taking the service of the Czech in the 5th game. A few minutes later, the cry of joy he launched in the middle of the short spoke volumes: he had come a long way.

6. A final dream, not a half dream

Year: 2008
Semi final
Opponent: Roger Federer
Defeat 6-2, 5-7, 6-3, 7-5

Not the biggest of the Monf’ matches at Roland-Garros, but undoubtedly the most prestigious since it remains his only semi-final in Paris, against the legend Roger Federer. Twenty years after Henri Leconte, the Parisian public hoped to find a Frenchman in the final. Hope disappointed with the defeat in four sets of Monfils against the world number one.

Too tense, he waited to be led by a set and a break to really start his half. The following was much more balanced but the inconstancy of the Habs, between flashes and empty passages, ended up getting the better of him. Two days later, Federer received the worst correction of his life in the Grand Slam final, against an untouchable Nadal. It remains all the same the pet peeve of Monfils at Roland, with four victories in four matches.

5. The “almost comeback” and then the collapse

Year 2014
Quarterfinal
Adversaire : Andy Murray
Defeat 6-4, 6-1, 4-6, 1-6, 6-0

A funny match, panting before pschitt when no one really expected it. So here is Monfils once again in the quarter-finals at Roland. Unfortunately for him, he completely missed his match, at least for two sets. Then the awakening, from beyond the grave, with a rare brilliance. The French took the 3rd then the 4th set, which he flew over 6-1, to the point that at two sets everywhere, Murray, totally confused, asked that the match be stopped overnight. It was 9:15 p.m.

The Briton did not win his case with the referee, but he did not have to regret it. This decisive set lasted only 25 minutes for a bubble stuck to Monfils. Unlikely. “I wanted to play that 5th set todayexplained Monfils, because I see that he is not well physically. I feel good, but everything is going very fast. Postponing the end of this match to the next day would have given him new chances to win. But I rush and none of my punches land. I’m sad and frustrated to end on this. I can’t explain it.” We neither.

4. Repeated twice against Ferrer

Year: 2011
8th final
Opponent: David Ferrer
Victoire 6-4, 2-6, 7-5, 1-6, 8-6

Three years earlier, Gaël Monfils had already taken over David Ferrer, in four sets, to open the doors of the last four. The Spaniard was then 5th in the ATP rankings, the biggest result of the Frenchman’s entire career in a major tournament. In 2011, Ferrer, finalist in Monte-Carlo and Barcelona, ​​is still there, very close to the heights, since he is in 7th place. Monfils in the 9th. A shock, a real one, and a match with a scenario forbidden to heart patients.

The duel between the two men, stopped by the night at the start of the 4th set, culminated the next day in a rather formidable last act. Despite a sore ankle, Monfils broke once at 1-1 but nearly ruined it when serving for the 5-4 victory by dropping a match point. He will need three more to finish off the tenacious Valencian in the 14th and last game, in an obviously crazy atmosphere on Lenglen.

3. Failure against the “ratasse”

Year: 2010
2e tour
Adversaire : Fabio Fognini
Defeat 2-6, 4-6, 7-5, 6-4, 9-7

A crazy match between two very sick people. And perhaps the biggest disappointment monfilsienne Roland. Half-finalist then quarter-finalist the two previous years, the Guadeloupean fell this time in the 2nd round against a Fabio Fognini who had been in difficulty since the start of this 2010 season. A disillusion reinforced by the scenario since Monfils led two sets to zero before getting stuck. In the 4th set, he is even led 3-0, ball 4-0 against him before waking up.

He then saves three match points on his serve at 4-5, before the night sends the two players back to the locker room. The next day, in just over 20 minutes, Fognini made the difference and won 9-7. It was a bit crazy and memorable, but still disappointing for Monfils.

He is frustrated, he is disappointed, but he still “kiffed”. “I find his grumpy side quite funny, he says about the Italian. Well, a little annoying all the same… Let’s say it’s a funny annoyance. With Fabio, we have known each other since childhood, he has always been like that. He has a good character, but he is a warrior. He can talk, pretend to fool us, to get angry, he’s a good ratasse.” (A sticky player who gives few points).

2. Miracle on the Lenglen

Year: 2015
3e tour
Opponent : Pablo Cuevas
Victoire 4-6, 7-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3

It was a gray day, one of those which gives the impression that night falls before sunset. On the Suzanne-Lenglen court, Monfils seems to have to bow in this round of 16 when Pablo Cuevas leads two sets to one and 4-1, double break, in the 4th. Then the French will unbreak once. Then two.

He comes back, eats the brain of the Uruguayan, lines up five games in a row to snatch a 5th set where he wins 6-3. The public spent the last set and a half standing, half admiring, half amazed. “Paris is different, it’s magic, blows the Frenchman. I’m still here, I don’t even know how. Anything can happen here, I can show things I didn’t think I was capable of.” However, he lost in four sets in the round of 16 against Roger Federer.

1. At the end of the night and the madness

Year: 2023
1er tour
Opponent: Sebastian Baez
Victoire 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, 1-6, 7-5

We did not think it was possible to transcend the scenario of the match against Cuevas, even less at 36 years old and without having achieved the slightest success for almost 10 months on the circuit. But by the magic of the first night session of his Parisian career, Gaël Monfils achieved this miracle against Sebastian Baez.

The end of the third round was already worth the detour, with these nine points in a row to clear three set points and then break white. Just for this moment, he had done well to come. But the final bouquet was simply grandiose. 0-4, triple break point against him in the last act and yet, the Monf ‘found a way to get by. We didn’t understand how, neither did Baez, but this midnight leave will remain unforgettable for all those who were on the Chatrier.

Now, after his wrist injury and his withdrawal, one question remains: will this legendary match be the last of his career in Paris?