Gael Monfils & Jo-Wilfried Tsonga make brutally honest admission about why they did not win a Grand Slam
Gael Monfils and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga recently discussed their failure to win a Grand Slam title. Both men came close to major glory but couldn't cross the finish line.
Monfils and Tsonga, along with Gilles Simon and Richard Gasquet, were part of France's greatest tennis generation in the Open Era. Tsonga and Simon have retired from the game, and Gasquet will end his career next year. Monfils is still going strong on the tour. While all four held great promise, none of them could deliver at Grand Slams.
Tsonga and Monfils took stock of their respective careers during a conversation on the latter's new talk show, which is available on YouTube. They also answered fan questions, including one about their lack of success at the Grand Slam level. Tsonga was the runner-up finish at the 2008 Australian Open, while Monfils' best showing at a major was a semifinal run at the 2008 French Open.
The two were extremely frank in assessing their Grand Slam performances. They acknowledged that while they were good enough to make deep runs at those tournaments. Moreover, Tsonga saw no need to delve into the specifics of why they failed at Grand Slams.
"We just didn't win a Grand Slam because we weren't good enough. We were good enough to go far, but not good enough to win them. It's a sincere and honest answer, and then we can extrapolate what we should have changed or what should have been improved, but it just happened that way," Tsonga said (via Punto de Break).
France has not produced a singles Grand Slam champion since Marion Bartoli at the 2013 Wimbledon Championships. The French Grand Slam drought is even longer in men's tennis, with Yannick Noah at the 1983 French Open being the last player from the nation to win a men's singles Grand Slam.
"They were stronger than us": Gael Monfils on three players who won Grand Slams in the 'Big Four' Era
Gael Monfils and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga's chances of ever winning a Grand Slam were dwindled by the fact that they played tennis during the prime of Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, and Andy Murray. Combined, the 'Big Four' won 65 Grand Slam titles between 2004 and 2022, the years in which all four regularly competed at the major level.
While the 'Big Four' steamrolled any opponent they faced easily, three players managed to carve out a space for themselves in history books during this era. In his conversation with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Gael Monfils praised Juan Martin del Potro, Marin Cilic, and Stan Wawrinka - three players who won Grand Slams between 2004 and 2022 - for their exceptional talent and resilience.
"I don't mind saying that these three were stronger than us. They won their Grand Slams with legends of the sport. Stan was in an exceptional state of grace the years he won his Grand Slams. He played incredible tennis. Cilic, incredible tennis when he won (US Open 2014), he had that thing. Del Potro, same thing, and on top of that he was losing the US Open final before finally winning it," Gael Monfils said.
Juan Martin del Potro was the first player in this trio to win a Grand Slam after beating Federer in the 2009 US Open final. Marin Cilic's Grand Slam glory also came in New York when he bettered Kei Nishikori in the 2014 US Open title contest.
Stan Wawrinka is the most successful player at Grand Slams in this group. The Swiss won three majors in his career, emerging victorious at the 2014 Australian Open, 2015 French Open, and 2016 US Open.