Gaël Monfils the “French Veteran” in a state of grace in Melbourne (Australian Open)

Where can we place this victory in his sometimes upset pantheon, when the epic defeats seemed to hide the major successes? Up there or not far away? Gaël Monfils never did things quite like the others, before waiting until he was 38 to deliver a game mastered from start to finish against a top 5, in a serenity that nothing seemed to alter – nor the heat, nor the services of Taylor Fritz (3-6, 7-5, 7-6 [1]6-4), nor the dreaded five-set format – with a kind of supreme detachment which did not always accompany him.