For a sport as physically demanding and mentally taxing as tennis, the retirement clock starts ticking after the player gets 35 years old. At least, that’s what the majority of tennis history suggests. Gael Monfils and Stan Wawrinka both are knocking on the door of the 40s now – and most importantly, they have been playing for over 20 years, which is phenomenal, to say the least. Given their close friendship and similar career stages, it wouldn’t be surprising if the two decided to retire together. But do we have a timeline for their retirement yet?

Despite their ages, 38-year-old Gael Monfils and 39-year-old Stan Wawrinka show no signs of slowing down. As evidenced by their September 30 tweet, the two tennis veterans are still actively competing and enjoying the sport they love. Wawrinka expressed their passion for tennis, stating, “Simply 2 old guys passionate about what they doing.” It’s clear that their love for the game keeps them motivated to continue playing.

On Wednesday, Monfils was all smiles after his 6-4, 6-3 victory over Damir Dzumhur in the first round of the Shanghai Masters. During the post-match interview, when asked, “There was a lovely photo of you with Stan Wawrinka earlier in the week. How nice is it to meet up with old friends again, keep meeting up with old friends?”, Monfils had nothing but good things to say.

The Frenchman, who has recently trained with the Wawrinka, said, “It’s an incredible feeling. We started together, we’ll probably finish together. For me, it’s good, because he’s older than me, so I can lean on him. He’s a legend. I think I’m a good player, but he’s a legend, so for me to be at his side on the court is a privilege. It’s unique to have a relationship as long and as good as ours. So I’m more than happy to be able to enjoy the end of my career with him.”

Monfils and Wawrinka go back a long way. Both the stars kicked off their career around the same time in the first half of the 2000s. Even though the players have locked horns 7 times, with the H2H being 4-3 in the favor of Monfils, their rivalry seems dwarf in comparison to their friendship. This was very much at display when the former top 10 players met in the second round of this year’s Wimbledon.

During the pre-match interview, the 3-time Grand Slam champion, Wawrinka, said, “He is practically my neighbor. And one of my best friends on the tennis circuit…We know each other inside out.” Monfils doesn’t disagree, of course. While for the Frenchman, it’s always “cool” to play alongside the Swiss star, both are more than just buddies.

“He has helped me with a lot of things, including in my personal life,” enthused the Frenchman, who is one and a half years younger, after his convincing four-set victory over Adrian Mannarino in the first round of the same tournament. Surprisingly, Monfils hinted at his retirement before as well. 

3 reasons that almost drove Gael Monfils to retirement

While Gael Monfils has not officially announced his retirement, he has expressed a desire to return to the top of the tennis world after contemplating retirement. Speaking with Ugo Humbert and Jeremy Chardy in May’s “All on the Table” podcast by UTS, Monfils admitted that the combination of his foot injury, his wife Elina Svitolina’s pregnancy, and an accident in the family gave him “doubts”,

“I said to myself: ‘this is too much.’ I told myself: ‘I’m happy with my career, I’m happy with what I’ve done. I’m 36-and-a-half, I’m going to have the most beautiful thing that’s going to happen at the end of 2022, my daughter. I don’t know if in 2023, I’ll want to deal with that.” For the unaware, Monfils married to Ukrainian tennis player Elina Svitolina on July 16, 2021, after a short engagement. Their first child, Skai, was born in October 2022.

Currently, Monfils is eyeing a showdown against Sebastian Baez in the second round in Shanghai. Whereas Wawrinka will be locking horns with Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard at the tournament’s first round today.