Gaël Monfils (born on September 1, 1986 in Bobigny,
France) is a professional male tennis player from
France. In January 2008, he was ranked 49th in the
world.
In his career, he has won one ATP singles final:
2005 Sopot (beat Florian Mayer of Germany). Two
months later, he reached the final in Metz, but lost
to Croat Ivan Ljubičić.
In 2004, he finished the year as the world's no.1
junior. He won three of the four junior Grand slam
titles (Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon)
but failed to join Stefan Edberg as the only player
to win the "Junior Grand Slam" when he lost in the
third round of the U. S. Open to Viktor Troicki of
Serbia and Montenegro (4-6, 2-6).
In his first tournament of 2006, in Doha, he reached
the final but lost 3-6, 6-7 to World Number 1 Roger
Federer.
Gaël is nicknamed "La Monf". He is of Caribbean
heritage: his father, Rufin, a former soccer player,
comes from the island of Guadeloupe, France. He is
an agent for France Telecom. His mother, Sylvette,
comes from the island of Martinique, France and is a
nurse. He also has one younger brother, Daryl.
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
Detroit Pistons and his favorite basketball player
is Carmelo Anthony. His best friends are countrymen
and former juniors Josselin Ouanna, Paterne Mamata
and fellow pro Richard Gasquet and Jo-Wilfried
Tsonga.
He was coached by countryman and former ATP pro
Thierry Champion (since September 2004) but they
parted company in September 2006. Nevertheless,
Monfils' fitness trainer is still Rémi Barbarin.
Monfils announced a partnership with a new coach,
Tarik Benhabiles, in May 2007.
He is a former soccer player, but decided rather to
pursue tennis.
