The epic of Gaël Monfils ends with a smile, despite a withdrawal: the 38-year-old French veteran ended up, on Monday, throwing in the towel in the 4th set of an epic round of 16 against the American Ben Shelton (20th). ) at the Australian Open. While the first three sets ended in a tie-break in heat above 30 degrees, the French veteran (41st) headed towards the net smiling at 1-0 for Shelton, telling him that he was stopping. the fight after almost three hours of battle and eight victories in a row.
The 22-year-old American, to whom the Parisian gave a warm hug, then led 7-6 (7/3), 6-7 (3/7), 7-6 (7/2), 1-0. In Oceania, where he successively played tournaments in Brisbane, Auckland and the Australian Open, “my tour was very long,” Monfils underlined at a press conference.
“And of course, some days are harder. Today was really difficult for me physically. I was already very close to the limit and unfortunately I crossed it,” he added. Winner of the Auckland tournament in early January, a title which made him the oldest tournament winner on the main circuit since 1977, Monfils hoped to reach the quarter-finals for the third time in his career at the Australian Open. , after 2016 and 2022.
As he left the court, the Frenchman stopped for a moment to give a thumbs up and greet the public, who cheered him with cries of “Thank you Gaël! Thank you Gaël!”. With the elimination of Monfils, the last French representative at the Australian Open, men and women alike, disappears. Sunday, French No.1 Ugo Humbert (14th) was also eliminated in the round of 16 final by the German Alexander Zverev (2nd), winner in four sets.
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