ATP Tour

Monfils receives hero’s farewell, Grand Slam career ends in New York

Gael Monfils put a bow on his Grand Slam career Thursday. The 40-year-old, set to retire at the end of this season, fell in the US Open second round to American Learner Tien 6-3, 6-4, 6-3.

Despite the match occurring in Tien’s home country, the packed Louis Armstrong Stadium crowd chanted, “Mon-fils! Mon-fils!” throughout the night, adoring the Frenchman who has long won over fans with his incredible shotmaking.

“I want to thank you all,” Monfils said while addressing the crowd. “It has been a long ride. I came here in 2003 for the juniors for the first time and here I am in 2026, so it’s a helluva long ride. I felt all the love and I can tell you that you guys are my second-best crowd, of course after Paris, but you are up there, so thank you so much.”

Monfils was honoured with an on-court ceremony, during which USTA CEO Craig Tiley and US Open tournament director Eric Butorac presented Monfils with a special framed picture. There were no visible tears from Monfils, instead only large smiles and laughs, fitting for one of the sport's best entertainers. 

“It’s been an absolute honour for me to play all these years in front of you,” said Monfils, who celebrated his birthday Tuesday, the same day he won his first-round match. “I tried my best and tried to perform high-performance tennis, but also give you a great show. You guys give me great love, I will never forget that.”

Tien, 20, also defeated Monfils in Montreal last month, and even asked for a signature from his childhood idol after the match.

“I told him when we played in Montreal that I hope we get to play one more time,” Tien said. “And I know that we didn’t have that many opportunities left, so I’m super happy it happened here. Sorry for dropshotting you so much tonight,” the 14th seed added while looking at Monfils, who cracked a smile before sharing a warm embrace with Tien.

Monfils tallied a 34-18 match record across 18 main-draw appearances at the season’s final major. In 2005, Monfils made his Flushing Meadows debut and faced then-World No. 97 Novak Djokovic in a five-set first-round match won by the Serbian.

The Paris native tied his career-best Slam result in New York in 2016, when he reached the semi-finals. That same year, Monfils reached a career-high No. 6 in the PIF ATP Rankings. The 13-time ATP Tour titlist first reached the semi-finals of a major in 2008 at his home Slam, Roland Garros.

What does Monfils plan to do after his tennis career?

“I will work in finance. I already signed to work in wealth management in a Swiss company,” Monfils said in his post-match press conference. “So my next chapter [will be] working in an office and working in finance.”