Injuries, a hint of nonchalance and a few missed opportunities cemented his reputation. Three Masters 1000 finals without a title, including two in Paris in 2009 and 2010, weigh on his record.
With him disappears a certain vision of tennis, that of an inimitable style. It is doubtless a first, so much has he given the public.
For lack of a record matching his flashes of brilliance, what remains is the Monfils-style romanticism. Even outside Grand Slams, his longevity places him alongside the greatest.
These are doubtless not the farewells anyone had imagined. The unwelcome announcement of the end of his career came in a silence far from the spotlights that ordinarily trained on him.
Monfils leaves the stage taking with him a way of playing that the tour will not reproduce identically.
The Bercy public will see an artist of the game, more than a collector of titles.
Tuesday’s ceremony closes a chapter opened very early, without the usual pomp of planned farewells.
At 16 or 17 he was already on the tour. Until nearly 40, that represents more than twenty-three years of professional life.
The Paris tournament, the stage for two of his Masters 1000 finals without a title, thus hosts this bow.
He reached at least one final in nineteen consecutive seasons, between 2005 and 2023.