“A big milestone for me” – Monfils turns 40 on the day he begins his last Grand Slam

Gael Monfils will walk out for the first round of the US Open on Tuesday, the day he turns 40, and it will be the last time the Frenchman starts a Grand Slam. He arrives on a wild card, drawn against Adolfo Daniel Vallejo of Paraguay in a first meeting, and he was not interested on Saturday in treating any of it as a ceremony.

“Of course is great, but is different,” he said at Flushing Meadows. “As I say, in Roland-Garros, it was really tough for me. Emotionally, it was really hard. I could gain a little bit of experience to help me for this one, because this one will be special. It’s the last one.”

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The birthday is the part he was willing to call a landmark. “I hit my 40th birthday the day I play, so this is a big milestone for me, able to play at 40,” Monfils said. “I want to do, not good but really good, for where I am now. I think I put a lot of work, in the court, outside the court, to be the best that I can Tuesday. At the end of the day, it’s a game. I will give my best, and I will see.”

He has already been on court this week in New York, reaching the semi-finals of the mixed doubles with his wife Elina Svitolina, the No. 9 seed in the women’s singles.

Monfils’ legacy? “Whatever it is”

Twice invited to describe what his career will leave behind, he declined both times. “I don’t really know, to be honest,” he said. “I will see I think in the years. But I always say this: time will tell.” Asked what he would like the legacy to be, the answer was shorter still: “Whatever it is.”

Monfils has never reached a Grand Slam final. He has reached two semi-finals in a career spanning more than two decades, at Roland-Garros in 2008 and at the US Open in 2016, when he was the No. 10 seed and beat Lucas Pouille 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 in an all-French quarterfinal before losing to Novak Djokovic 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-2.

The eight years between those two runs were spent losing quarterfinals, six of them in a row. New York has been the closest thing he has to a major stronghold, with quarterfinals in 2010 and 2014 preceding that semi-final, and it is where he returns on Tuesday for the last time.