Heartbroken Gael Monfils Reacts to Compatriot Gilles Simon’s Recent Announcement

Gilles Simon, the French tennis professional, turned pro in the year 2002 and claimed his career highest ranking of world no.6 in 2009. Further, he won 14 singles titles and helped France win the Davis Cup in 2017. However, now, after 20 magnificent years, Simon has decided to say goodbye to professional tennis. He will be retiring at the end of this season. As soon as the news arrived, many entities shared their emotions and Gael Monfils was one of them.

Frenchman Gael Monfils reacted to the news

Gilles Simon informed his fans about his retirement by the means of Twitter. He wrote, “It was a magical, wonderful and extraordinary adventure. It will end at the end of the year. A huge THANK YOU to everyone who made it possible. There is no sadness, no regret. Just the will to put everything I have left. On every game, until the end.”

Gael Monfils, when stumbled upon the saddening news, shared the farewell message from the fellow French tennis ace and wrote, “Merci gillou.” which is French for Thank you. 

Monfils and Simon’s last meeting was in the fourth round of ATP Rotterdam, where Monfils outclassed the 37-year-old in the straight sets of 6-4, 6-1. However, in totality, they have met each other on the court 10 times, out of which Simon secured seven victories.

Monfils’ 2022 performance up till now

Monfils started the year with a decent quarterfinal run in the Australian Open. Following that, he struggled to get past round of 16 in any of the tournaments.

Read more: ‘He Is Stronger Than Me’ – Gael Monfils Gives a Bizarre Statement on Novak Djokovic While Comparing Him to Usain Bolt

Speaking of Indian Wells first, Monfils outfoxed Russian tennis ace Daniil Medvedev, who was holding the ranking of world no.1 at that time. Though not much later, he himself fell prey to the rising 19-year-old tennis sensation Carlos Alcaraz. Alcaraz defeated Monfils in straight sets of 7-5, 6-1.

Following that, he gave a subpar performance in Miami Open and incurred a foot injury, which forced him out of the first clay based tournament. After skipping Monte Carlo Masters, Monfils tried his luck in the Madrid Open, where the 20 times Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic got the better of him.

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