By Giri Nathan
This week there was so much good Stan Wawrinka and Gael Monfils in the monitors that it felt like 2016. It is no secret that these guys, aged 38 and 36, respectively, are in the codas of their careers; commentators cannot so much as look at them without blurting out the word “retire.” They are some of the most gifted players of their fading generation, and while they had the misfortune of being born in the proximity of the Big Three, they each leave their own distinctive mark on the game. Monfils, in particular, will go down as the premier entertainer of his time, a swirl of charm and audacity, who had every tennis skill there is to have, to the absolute highest degree, for at least one rapturous moment in his career. He was responsible for a disproportionate number of the best shots I’ve seen, and he only added to that heap of highlights with his unexpectedly great play this month.
Monfils ended his 2022 season early with foot surgery. His return to competition this spring was inauspicious. Heading into August, the Frenchman hadn’t managed to win two matches in a row. The only bright spot of his year was a dreamlike first-round win at Roland-Garros, where he sent chills into the home crowd by coming back down 0–4 in the fifth, though even then, he withdrew from the tournament with injury right after. It wasn’t the type of season that would make a player want to defer a hard-earned funemployment. It felt more like a farewell tour. Though that might have changed during this month’s hard-court swing. If you watched him in Washington, Toronto, or Cincinnati, you would not have guessed that this was a man ranked outside the top 200, playing out the string. Monfils took out a slew of top 30 players, all about a decade his junior: Alexander Bublik, Chris Eubanks, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Cam Norrie, Alex de Minaur. He tested eventual Toronto champ Jannik Sinner in three sets. After these results, the feeling was different. Monfils might still choose to retire, but these kids weren’t retiring him by force.