Gaël Monfils, exhausted, had to give up against Ben Shelton at the Australian Open

Perhaps he had gotten us too used to turning back the clock of time. “He has magical powers”Lucas Pouille said of him at the start of the fortnight. But Gaël Monfils is not Benjamin Button and, this Monday, his legs were indeed those of a 38-year-old player, an old man on the scale of a sport which sneakily wears out every joint, every muscle, and does not forgive any crack. “I was close to the limit and today (this Monday), I unfortunately crossed ithe asked, without disappointment or regret in his voice. The head, it wants… We’ll say it, the sentence: ”At one point, I’m no longer twenty years old, what!” I gave everything, I can’t give more, I even too much given. »