Ninety minutes into Gaël Monfils’s dernière danse in the city of his birth, it seemed as if nothing could stop the inevitable. Monfils looked every millisecond of his 39 years of age as he was thoroughly outplayed for two sets. A forgettable ending to his love story with Roland Garros.
Over the past 21 years, though, forgettable would be the very last way to describe his presence at this event. He has been the architect of so many delirious days and nights in Paris, a magnet for drama, spectacle and unfettered joy. It came as no surprise to see Monfils, an iconic showman, fight with everything he had, dragging himself back into a messy, turbulent contest before he was overcome physically by his own significant efforts.
