Gael Monfils

Gaël Monfils: A Brief Biography

Very few players can entertain the crowd like the way Gaël Monfils does. A 1986-born French national, Monfils turned professional tennis player in 2004 and is a veteran of the sport today. He is known for his court presence and for bringing the crowd on their feet with his extraordinary shot-making ability and court-coverage. Monfils is currently ranked No. 142 by the ATP. He achieved his career-high singles ranking of No. 6 in November 2016.

Despite all his talent and showmanship, Monfils has not been able to win a major yet. He has won 11 ATP singles titles till date and his best Grand Slam performance came at the 2008 French Open, where he reached the semifinals. He lost to Roger Federer in four sets. He also reached the semifinal of the 2016 US Open, where he lost to Novak Djokovic.

Gaël Monfils Personal Information

Gaël Monfils Early Life

Gaël Monfils was born on September 1, 1986 in Paris, France. As a kid in school, Monfils was a successful sprinter and won the 100m dash in under-13 and under-14 French championships. However, he always wanted to pursue tennis as a career. He has credited the hard work of his parents for enabling him to become a professional tennis player.

Gaël Monfils Personal Life

Gaël Monfils is nicknamed “La Monf” and “Sliderman” for his spectacular stretching technique on the court, especially on clay. If not for tennis, Monfils would have liked to try a hand at professional basketball. He still follows the NBA and is a Detroit Pistons supporter. His favorite basketball player is Carmelo Anthony.

Gaël Monfils is also renowned for his breakdancing skills. He also appeared in the music video of the song “Hello” by Martin Solveig and Dragonette released in 2011.

Gaël Monfils Family Background

Gaël Monfils was born to mother, Sylvette Cartesse and father, Rufin Monfils. His mother hails from Martinique in the Caribbean while his father comes from the French islands of Guadeloupe. Rufin Monfils was a professional football player who also worked for France Telecom. Sylvette Cartesse used to work as a nurse.

Gaël Monfils has a younger brother Daryl Monfils. According to ATPtour.com, Daryl is a player agent. The Monfils brothers played one ATP doubles match at the 2012 Open Sud de France, which they lost.

Gaël Monfils Wife

Gaël Monfils is married to fellow tennis player Elina Svitolina. They first acknowledged their relationship in 2019 and got engaged on April 3, 2021. They got married on July 16 of the same year.

Elina Svitolina is a Ukrainian tennis player who achieved her career-high singles ranking of No. 3 in September 2017. She is a three-time grand slam semi-finalist and has won 17 WTA singles titles as of September 2023.

Elina Svitolina is active on Instagram via her official account @elisvitolina, where she has over 1.3 million followers.

Gaël Monfils Kids

Gaël Monfils and Elina Svitolina have a daughter named Skaï Monfils. The couple announced on May 15, 2022 that they were expecting their first child. Skaï was born on October 15, 2022. The tennis parents regularly post snapshots of their family life on a separate Instagram account @g.e.m.s.life, which is followed by 137k users.

Gaël Monfils Social Media

Gaël Monfils is active on multiple social media platforms. His official Instagram account @iamgaelmonfils has over 1 million followers. He frequently shares moments from the tennis season as well as his personal life with wife Elina Svitolina and daughter Skaï.

Monfils also tweets on X using the handle @Gael_Monfils, where he has over 786k followers. He also occasionally posts videos on his YouTube channel GAEL MONFILS, which has more than 53k subscribers.

Gaël Monfils Net Worth

According to online sources, Gaël Monfils’ net worth is estimated at around $12 million as of September 2023. His primary income sources include tennis prize money and partnerships with multiple prominent brands.

Gaël Monfils Prize Money

According to the ATP website, Gaël Monfils has won over $21.5 million in prize money till date, including over $570k so far in 2023. As per official ATP records till 18 September 2023, Monfils ranks 22nd on the all-time list of career prize money. This list includes winnings from both singles and doubles events.

Gaël Monfils Brand Ambassador

Gaël Monfils has signed endorsement deals with various big-name brands in his long professional career. He was a long-term brand ambassador of Wilson, whose equipment he wielded for nine years till 2022. Since then, he has switched to Artengo, an in-house brand of Decathlon that specializes in tennis equipment. They are also his apparel sponsor.

Previously, Le Monf was a brand ambassador for Asics, a Japanese sportswear multinational corporation. Other brands that Monfils has associated with as a brand ambassador in the past include financial services company eToro, global telecom company ROKiT, independent Swiss watch manufacturer De Bethune and fashion brand Daniel Hechter.

Gaël Monfils Investments

In an interview with The Times UK, Monfils revealed that he personally invests on eToro, a social investment platform of which he is also a brand ambassador. In addition, he also said that he employs a financial adviser. On his official LinkedIn page, Monfils has described himself as an investor in the stock market, real estate, crypto assets, blockchain projects and start-ups.

Gaël Monfils Achievements

Gaël Monfils turned professional in 2004 at 17 years old. Before that, he reached the world no. 1 ranking as a junior in February 2004. That year, he won the boys’ singles titles at the Australian Open, the French Open and Wimbledon. As a result, he became the inaugural International Tennis Federation youth boys’ world champion in 2004.

Monfils won his first ATP title at the Sopot Open in Poland in August 2005, where he defeated Florian Mayer in three tight sets. He finished the year as the No. 3 French player. At the 2006 French Open, Monfils reached the fourth round of a major for the first time. His progress was halted by Novak Djokovic but he had done enough to reach a then career-high position of No. 23 in the world and the best in France.

Monfils enjoyed further progress at the French Open in 2008 when he reached his first grand slam semi-final playing in front of his home fans. Even though he lost to world No. 1 Roger Federer in a four-set match, this was the best performance by a Frenchman since 2001.

In February 2009, Monfils broke into the top 10 singles rankings for the first time in his career. Later in the same year, he reached his first Masters final at home in Paris which he lost to Novak Djokovic.

In 2012, Monfils struggled with injuries and had to miss the final three grand slams of the year as a result of it. He made a comeback into the top 40 in 2013 and in the top 15 in 2015. The year 2016 proved very successful for the French national as he reached the first semi-final in a major in eight years at the US Open. He also won his first-ever ATP 500 event at the Citi Open in Washington D.C. Subsequently, he attained his career-best ranking of six in the world in November 2016.

Monfils won his 10th singles title at the 2020 Rotterdam Open in the Netherlands. He then brought up 500 career ATP singles match wins in 2021. His last title till date came at Adelaide International in January 2022.

Gaël Monfils Best Finish at each Grand Slam

The following table lists Gaël Monfils’s best results at grand slam events till the US Open in 2023.

Gaël Monfils Titles Won

Gaël Monfils has won 11 titles in his professional tennis career till date. The table below contains the list of all his wins.

Gaël Monfils Coaching Staff

According to the ATP website, Gaël Monfils’ current coaches are Peter Lucassen and Mikael Tillstrom. Some of his past coaches include Thierry Champion, Tarik Benhabiles, Roger Rasheed, Patrick Chamagne, Jan de Witt, Mikael Tillström and Liam Smith.

Gaël Monfils Diet

The Sliderman Monfils has revealed on his personal website that no food is completely off-limits for him but he does watch what he eats to a certain extent. He ensures that his lunch is not too heavy since he trains in the evening too.

Gaël Monfils House

Gaël Monfils has two luxurious properties which he calls home. The first is a mansion in Trélex in the Vaud canton of Switzerland. He has listed Vaud as his residence on his personal website. He also has a penthouse in Miami, Florida. The exact cost of these houses is not known.

Gaël Monfils Cars

Gaël Monfils owns some exhilarating automobiles in his collection including an Aston Martin Superleggera that costs about $300k. He also has a sporty yellow Audi R8 V10 worth $163k and a Mercedes SLR McLaren that would have cost around $380k.