ATP Tour

Celebrating newly retired David Goffin: 'I gave everything until the very end'

David Goffin, a consistent presence near the top of the ATP Tour for well more than a decade, completed his distinguished career on Thursday in front of his home crowd in Brussels.

More than 18 years after claiming his first PIF ATP Rankings point and 12 years after winning his first tour-level title in Kitzbuhel, Goffin fell to Alex Michelsen at the ATP 250 event and into retirement.

“I’m proud of all my career. I gave everything to try to reach my goals,” Goffin told ATPTour.com ahead of the tournament. “I’m proud of the attitude that I always had in front of the difficulties that I had in my career. I’m proud of the wins I had, the opponents I beat.

“A lot of things I’m really proud of. But in the end, I have no regrets and I gave everything until the very end.”

It was the final chapter of a standout career for the Belgian, who redefined what was possible for players from his country. He checked off several firsts, becoming the first Belgian to crack the Top 10 of the PIF ATP Rankings, qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals, defeat a World No. 1 and make an ATP Masters 1000 final.

Goffin, who climbed as high as World No. 7, won six ATP Tour titles. But more impressive than his titles count was his consistency, finishing in the year-end Top 25 for seven consecutive years (2014-2020) and challenging some of the best players in the history of the sport.

The 35-year-old earned at least one Lexus ATP Head2Head victory against each of Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Stan Wawrinka, Daniil Medvedev and Carlos Alcaraz.

The standout moment of his career came at the 2017 Nitto ATP Finals, where he defeated Nadal in round-robin action and Federer in the semi-finals to reach the championship match in London, falling to Grigor Dimitrov. Federer won 10 of his 11 Lexus ATP Head2Head meetings against Goffin, but not that clash at The O2, on one of the biggest stages in the sport.

Having begun playing tennis with his father aged six and later looking up to Federer, Goffin came a long way from Rocourt, Belgium.

“A younger version of myself would say that it’s quite a good career, quite good emotions with the impressive places that I played [at], like a stadium with a crowd, the Davis Cup ties that I played,” Goffin said. “Hopefully a younger David would be impressed.” 

So would his colleagues on the ATP Tour. Goffin set the example for the current and future generations of Belgian players, including the man he is competed with in doubles this week in Brussels: Raphael Collignon (the end of their run will mark the end of Goffin's career).

“I think David is a great champion and to have him in our country is like an inspiration for young kids, to believe in their dreams because he did crazy things,” Collignon said. “He was Top 10 in the world. He beat all of the Big Three; Federer, Nadal and Djokovic. He’s the biggest inspiration for all of us and it's a huge honour to play with him today in doubles.”

But it was not just about Goffin’s performance on the court. The Belgian always set a positive example off of it, and was well liked in the locker room.

Following the Covid-19 pandemic, Goffin competed in the 2021 edition of the tournament in Doha. On the side of his practice court, another player walked onto the next practice court with only a mesh curtain between them. The player had a big smile on his face as he said: “David Goffin, baby!”

It was Roger Federer.

Goffin let his racquet speak for him, but also earned the respect of his colleagues for how he treated those around him.

“Everybody wants to play good tennis, but I think the most important thing is to be known as a good person,” Collignon said. “David is a very good person, always the first one to give some advice to me, to try and be a mentor. And I think his game speaks for itself. He’s an unbelievable player. It was a joy to grow up watching him.”