Gaël is nicknamed “La Monf“, or occasionally “Sliderman” due to his unusual sliding technique, especially on clay surfaces. He is of Caribbean heritage: his father, Rufin, a former football player employed as an agent for France Telecom, comes from the island of Guadeloupe, France. His mother, Sylvette, comes from the island of Martinique, France and is a nurse. He has a younger brother, Daryl, who plays tennis. Gael and Daryl played doubles together in the 2012 Open Sud de France, losing in the first round.
Monfils considers Arthur Ashe to be his favorite player. He is fond of listening to music, particularly R&B. If he did not play tennis, he would play basketball. He is a huge fan of NBA team Denver Nuggets and his favorite basketball player is Carmelo Anthony. His best friends are countrymen and former juniors Josselin Ouanna and Paterne Mamata and fellow pros Richard Gasquet, Gilles Simon, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Monfils is also a fan of football and his two favorite football clubs are Arsenal F.C. and Paris-Saint Germain.
He was coached by countryman and former ATP pro Thierry Champion (since September 2004) but they parted company in September 2006. Nevertheless, Monfils’s fitness trainer is still Rémi Barbarin. Monfils announced a partnership with a new coach, Tarik Benhabiles, in May 2007. However, for the 2008 season, Monfils has hired Roger Rasheed as his coach. In 2011, Monfils parted ways with Rasheed and announced that his fitness coach, Patrick Chamagne would take the reins as his new fulltime coach.
He has tattoos on both wrists, and giant wing tattoos on the lower half of his back. Monfils also appeared in the music video for “Hello” by Martin Solveig and Dragonette. He arrives at the end.
Monfils has dated French tennis player Alize Cornet and Slovak tennis player Dominika Cibulkova. He currently lives in Nyon, Switzerland with his Australian girlfriend Chelsea
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Country | ![]() |
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Residence | Trélex, Switzerland |
Born | 1 September 1986 (1986-09-01) (age 25) Paris, France |
Height | 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) |
Weight | 80 kg (180 lb) |
Turned pro | 2004 |
Plays | Right-handed (two-handed backhand) |
Career prize money | $6,029,703 |
Singles | |
Career record | 217–133 |
Career titles | 4 |
Highest ranking | No. 7 (July 4, 2011) |
Current ranking | No. 13 (January 30, 2012)[1] |
Grand Slam results | |
Australian Open | 4R (2009) |
French Open | SF (2008) |
Wimbledon | 3R (2005, 2007, 2010, 2011) |
US Open | QF (2010) |
Other tournaments | |
Olympic Games | QF (2008) |
Doubles | |
Career record | 17–44 |
Career titles | — |
Highest ranking | No. 160 (July 25, 2011) |
Grand Slam Doubles results | |
Australian Open | 1R (2006) |
French Open | 2R (2007) |
Wimbledon | — |
US Open | 1R (2005) |
Last updated on: August 15, 2011. |
Comments
Have u retired from tennis? If not, what are up to?