“I gave my absolute all, even I think I went over”: Monfils’ Grand Slam career was stopped by Tien
Gael Monfils played the 201st and last Grand Slam match of his career on Thursday night, beaten 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 by Learner Tien after failing to convert any of his eight break points. He leaves the majors with 131 wins, more than any French player, two days after becoming the oldest man to win a US Open match since Jimmy Connors.
Gaël Monfils, US Open 2026 | © AP Photo/Adam Hunger/SIPA
Gael Monfils finished his Grand Slam career on Thursday night at the US Open with 131 wins and 70 defeats at the majors, more than any French player has managed. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga is second on 121, Richard Gasquet third on 117 and Gilles Simon fourth on 90. Aged 40, the 2016 US Open semi-finalist will be the last of that generation of French Mousquetaires to retire, at the end of this season.
Monfils was beaten by Learner Tien 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 in a one-sided match in which he had eight break points and took none of them. It was only the seventh time in his 201 matches that Monfils failed to break his opponent’s serve, and the first time he had that many chances and converted none.
The previous six came against Mario Ancic at Wimbledon in 2005, Roger Federer at Roland-Garros in 2009, Rafael Nadal at the Australian Open in 2014, David Goffin here in 2017, Dominic Thiem in Melbourne in 2020 and Grigor Dimitrov at Wimbledon in 2024.
Tien asked for this match
Tien, the No. 14 seed, reaches the third round at this tournament for the first time, and he had wanted the fixture. The two met at the Montreal Masters 1000 in August, where the American won 6-3, 0-6, 6-3 in what was Monfils’ last appearance at that tournament, and where the Frenchman saved a match point with a leaping smash and won a set to love, becoming the oldest man in the Open Era to do so.
“I told him when we played in Montreal, I hope we get to play one more time,” Tien said afterwards. “I know we didn’t have many opportunities left. I’m super happy it happened here.” He added an apology to Monfils: “Sorry for drop shotting you so much tonight.”
Two days earlier, on his 40th birthday, Monfils had beaten Adolfo Daniel Vallejo 2-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-0 to become the oldest man to win a match at this tournament since Jimmy Connors in 1992, who did it on his own 40th birthday.
A city that never quite gave him what he wanted
New York has been the friendliest place of Monfils’ career and one of the least generous. He reached the semi-finals here in 2016 and the quarter-finals in 2010 and 2014, and lost to Novak Djokovic in his first US Open match in 2005 and again in that semi-final eleven years later. Federer beat him from two sets down in the 2014 quarter-finals, saving two match points on the way. Monfils never reached a Grand Slam final. He reached two semi-finals, and this is where the second one happened.
A video montage of those years played on court after the defeat, and he watched it.
“It was really nice. Saw this first match against Novak in 2005,” Monfils said. “It reminds, actually, how many matches that I played here and how many atmospheres that I had, because they showed great matches with a ton of points and memories.”
Of the match itself he was brief and generous. “I gave my absolute all, even I think I went over, but Learner was a really tough one tonight. Really big credit to him. He really held his focus, with the atmosphere and everything.”
Monfils will not tell anyone what to remember
For the third time in a week, Monfils was asked what he wants his career to have meant, and for the third time he refused to say.
“Honestly, I don’t know. The way they want,” he said. “I’m just me, Gael Monfils. I think I have been the same since I came on tour with a lot of joy, and I feel like you don’t have to tell anyone how they want to remember you. Some people might like me, some not. Some people think I’m fun, some not. So I’m all right with everything.”
What matters to him is narrower. “The most important for me is how my family lived all these years, and how they will remember this ride was unbelievable.”
He will retire at the end of the season and has already found the next job. “I have a new chapter coming next year. I will work in finance,” Monfils said. “I already signed to work in wealth management in a Swiss company.”
