Tennis fans were met with a surprise this week.
Frenchman Gael Monfils quietly called it a career with his appearance on the International Tennis Integrity Agency’s Retired Players List, meaning he is no longer eligible to compete in professional tournaments unless he re-enters the ITIA’s testing pool for anti-doping regulations.
Monfils announced his retirement last year, planning to retire after the 2026 Paris Masters, giving him an opportunity to bid his home fans farewell. That tournament will take place from Oct. 31-Nov 8.
It now appears the tennis world has seen the last of Monfils on the tour, with his second-round loss at the U.S. Open to American Learner Tien in early September being his last match.
Monfils received a wild card to compete in Lyon’s ATP 250 tournament, but his date of retirement is recorded as Oct. 5.
The Grand Prix Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes announced that Monfils pulled out of an exhibition with fellow Frenchmen Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Gilles Simon and Richard Gasquet for personal reasons.
Monfils, 38, will retire after an illustrious 22-year career with thirteen ATP titles and having reached a career-high ranking of world No. 6.
Fellow tennis player Daniil Medvedev was told of Monfils’s official retirement at a press conference in Shanghai.
“He had an incredible career, he’s one of the rare players about whom no one will say anything bad,” Medvedev reflected.
Monfils, who is married to fellow tennis star Elina Svitolina, previously said he plans to pursue a career in finance in his retirement, having already signed on to work in wealth management at a Swiss company.
