Australian Open – Gaël Monfils defeats Taylor Fritz – He has finally become the person he never was

Gaël Monfils had accomplished a lot in his career. Titles, a 6th place as a best ranking, two participations in the Masters and, above all, his own way of electrifying the crowds, in France and elsewhere, and even of arousing some vocations around the world . It was a gift package, sparkling and seductive, but also generating disappointment and frustration once opened. Come to think of it, if you were asked to name a huge Grand Slam victory for Monfils, you would probably have had a hard time answering.

With around ten participations in the quarter-finals in major tournaments and three semi-finals, his major record is far from being negligible. But to reach these heights, over the years, he mainly beat players he had to beat, erased obstacles within his reach. He has a few epic victories (at random, let's cite his miracle against Cuevas on the Lenglen in 2015), but most often against opponents of less stature than his own.

So ask yourself: what was Gaël Monfils' biggest victory in a major tournament? Look carefully. He lacked this major success, this feat which marks a career. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga beat Federer twice (at Wimbledon and Roland Garros) and he dominated Nadal and Djokovic in Australia. Richard Gasquet knocked out Wawrinka at Wimbledon two weeks after his Roland-Garros title. He tamed Ferrer at the US Open when the Spaniard was 4th in the world and finalist at Roland-Garros three months earlier. Above all, he defeated Andy Roddick at Wimbledon, after being down two sets to nothing, in 2007. And Roddick, at Wimbledon, was something. Perhaps his greatest victory, at only 21 years old.

Monfils had nothing to say that even remotely resembled these successes. Let's forget Tsonga. On the French scale, he is, in his generation, above the rest. Let's take Gasquet now. Like the Biterrois, Gaël had dominated Roddick and Ferrer in the Grand Slam. At Roland Garros, every time. But Roddick in Paris or London wasn't exactly the same thing. As for Ferrer, whose Monf' took the measure at Porte d'Auteuil twice in 2008 and 2011, he was not yet at the peak of his trajectory. Yes, he was in 5th place in 2008, but we were five years before his final in Paris. The Ferrer who fell to Tsonga in 2013 was of a different consistency. Today's Fritz too, with his label of major finalist.

Except for one point, everything would have been different. In 2014, at the US Open, Monfils delivered a gem of a match against Roger Federer in the New York night. On the Ashe he had been tall, the equal of a giant. He had led two zero sets then obtained two match points in the 4th set. Before you lose. Obviously, we would add. The half was waiting for him. Against Marin Cilic. Behind, it was Kei Nishikori in the final. It was a Grand Slam in its own right. To take. It wouldn't have been easy. But it was not to play Nadal or Djokovic, as was the case with Gasquet. “I will persevere, that will happen one day,” the Monf’ whispered.

In saying that, he wasn't talking so much about going all the way in a Grand Slam as about hitting a nice one, a big one, a real one, as he could have done that evening. So, if Taylor Fritz is not stamped Big 3 of the great era, far from it, if he will never have the aura of a Federer, he has become a big fish, like Monfils did not yet have never fished. World number 4. Gaël had not beaten a Top 5 in a Grand Slam since 2008 (Ferrer, 5th).

The American, over the last few months, is perhaps even a little higher than this Top 4. Finalist of the US Open. Masters finalist. Only stopped, each time, by Jannik Sinner, the reference of the moment. This is why the step seemed too high for the Parisian. Despite his desire and his current form, he was going to crash into his glass ceiling. A world number 4, in the round of 16, was similar to the slap received in the round of 16 against Dominic Thiem at Roland Garros in 2019, to his quarter against Berrettini in 2022 in Melbourne. And so many others.

We thought we had seen this film before. We were going to see him again. Unless Gaël Monfils becomes what he had never been before. Apparently, he has accomplished nothing in this Australian Open that is unknown to him. A round of 16 in a Grand Slam, for him, is a form of routine. This is the 21st time he has been in the second week. But this victory against Fritz, on the other hand, has a little flavor of something new. Even if he stopped there, and it is not impossible given his picture, it seems to us that he filled a form of gap on Saturday.

This is perhaps the most delicious thing about his victory of the day. To have succeeded, at over 38, in reinventing oneself, in surprising. These things shouldn't be his age anymore. But Gaël Monfils was never quite like the others. For the better this time.