Gael Monfils has been at the centre of a storm following his sudden retirement from tennis.
Monfils was expected to end his career this year, as he was set to play his final tournament at home for the Paris Masters.
However, it became apparent that the Frenchman had made this decision more suddenly after he was removed from the anti-doping pool, which players are required to do in order to compete. Monfils’ sudden retirement was later revealed to have come as a result of his split from his wife, WTA player Elina Svitolina.
Following this shock news, Jessica Pegula’s coach, Mark Knowles, has made a strong claim about Monfils’ abilities on court.
Jessica Pegula’s coach claims Gael Monfils is one of the ‘top five athletes of all time’
Knowles was discussing the number of retirements that have taken place on the ATP Tour this year on the latest edition of the Inside-In Podcast, including the likes of David Goffin, Kei Nishikori, Milos Raonic and Stan Wawrinka, who will play his last tournament next week.
Pegula’s coach then mentioned Monfils, as he highlighted how disappointed he was to see his career end in the way it had, having played alongside him at the beginning of his career. Knowles then praised Monfils as potentially ‘the greatest showman’, before calling him one of the top five athletes in any sport in history.
“Obviously super bummed out that our guy and everyone’s favourite Gael Monfils won’t get his send-off in Bercy, really unfortunate what’s happening there without knowing the situation,” said Knowles.
“I was fortunate enough to play on tour with Gael at the time, have been able to cover him doing broadcasting and doing all this stuff. To me, he’s one of my favourite guys that I was ever around on tour, covering generation after generation, one of my all-time favourites along with almost everybody out there.
“Really bummed for him, but just always thinking about him and thankful that I got to be around him, got to watch him be probably the greatest showman we have ever had in our sport.”
Knowles added, “If you knew how many debates and discussions I get into with all my friends that are athletes in other sports when I tell them that Gael Monfils is top five athletes of all time in any sport, and I will stand on that.”
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Gael Monfils’ career achievements in numbers
Monfils was always one of the most popular players on the ATP Tour, and that has been showcased even more so since his retirement.
As well as being one of the most entertaining players to watch, Monfils also achieved a lot of success in his career. This includes Monfils winning 13 ATP titles and achieving a career-high ranking of world number six.
Monfils was never able to win a Grand Slam title, but he did produce two semi-final runs at Roland Garros and the US Open in 2008 and 2016, respectively.
| Gael Monfils’ career achievements | |
| Career-high ranking | No.6 |
| Titles won | 13 |
| Best Grand Slam result | Semi-final (Roland Garros 2008 & US Open 2016) |
| Wins over top 10 players | 38 |
| Career earnings | $25,067,477 |
While Monfils will not get the farewell many believe he deserves, he still leaves the tennis world with many achievements and over $25million in prize money.
Monfils will now take the unorthodox post-tennis retirement career option, as he moves on to a career in finance with a Swiss bank.
