Hardly anyone expected Gael Monfils to start the new season this way. At 38, the French veteran is proving that age is just a number and that his career may still be far from over.
ADVERTISEMENT
'La Monf' pulled off one of the most unexpected feats of the first week of the 2025 Australian Open, eliminating world No. 4 Taylor Fritz thanks to an excellent and very tactically smart performance.
Gael was very good at understanding at what moments it was appropriate to accelerate from the baseline and at what junctures to change pace bringing the American ace closer to the net, an area of the court where he has several weaknesses.
Monfils did not give up even after losing the first set, crumbled his opponent's certainties and changed the inertia of the match, exalting the Melbourne Park crowd. The current world number 41 is in a period of great confidence and will try to go even further in the tournament.
His next opponent will be another American ace, Ben Shelton, who defeated Lorenzo Musetti in the third round after a tough battle. Shelton will start favored, but he will have to be very careful of a rival who is playing really exciting tennis.
ADVERTISEMENT
Svitolina praises La Monf
There is no doubt that the Frenchman has also been helped by the fact that he has found the right serenity off the court. Gael has created a beautiful family with his colleague Elina Svitolina, and the two champions support each other at all times.
The Ukrainian player is also shining at the AO, where she just defeated Jasmine Paolini. She will face World No.75 Veronika Kudermetova in the next round.
After her match, Elina had beautiful words for her husband: He handled the match against Fritz impeccably, I told him right away. The match went exactly as Gael wanted it to, which shattered the certainties of a great player like Fritz. Although he is not a young player anymore, he still has a lot of energy and he is showing it every single day. His performance today was really brilliant.
