US Open: “I don’t feel that bad,” Gaël Monfils reaches second round on his 40th birthday

Gaël Monfils turned 40 in New York and gave the US Open crowd another chance to watch his Grand Slam farewell. The French veteran recovered from a poor start to beat Paraguay’s Adolfo Daniel Vallejo 2-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-0 and move into the second round.

The victory made Monfils only the third man aged 40 or older to win a US Open match in the men’s draw. Ken Rosewall achieved the feat at 42 in 1977, while Jimmy Connors did it at 40 in 1992. Monfils, a former world No. 6 and winner of 13 singles titles, is now ranked 311th.

The Louis Armstrong Stadium crowd greeted the Parisian like a rock star and kept up its noise throughout the match. French flags and signs filled the stands, including one adapting boxer Muhammad Ali’s famous line into “Fly like a butterfly, sting like Monfils.”

Monfils has built a strong connection with the Queens crowd. In 2016, he reached the semifinals without dropping a set before losing to Novak Djokovic. Two years earlier, he led Roger Federer by two sets, held two match points in the fourth set and eventually lost a 3-hour, 20-minute contest.

His latest match began badly. Monfils looked passive on return and missed too many shots, surrendering the opening set in just over 35 minutes. “I felt that in the first set there was a lot of tension. I am holding myself back. I don’t feel that bad, but I still have this fear of giving 100% because I don’t have an endless tank at my age,” he said.

He changed direction in the second set, attacking more freely and finding his range. Vallejo faded as Monfils took control, setting up a second-round meeting with 15th seed Learner Tien. Monfils is expected to retire after the Paris Masters 1000 in the coming weeks.

“

I felt that in the first set there was a lot of tension. I am holding myself back. I don’t feel that bad, but I still have this fear of giving 100% because I don’t have an endless tank at my age.