Monfils hits milenary milestone, joining Agassi and the Big-3 in elite ATP history

The veteran Gael Monfils has once again achieved a milestone of consistency among the world's best. The Frenchman is preparing for his retirement year in 2026 and will start the season with a notable record that links him with only four other players in history.

The Frenchman achieved 1,000 weeks in the Top 100 in the latest ranking update—a span of 21 years in which he has barely left the elite group for more than a few weeks. He only fell out of the Top 100 amidst serious injuries: for 14 weeks in 2013 and another 38 weeks in 2023.

The former world No. 6 joins the Big Three and Andre Agassi, all of whom surpassed 1,000 weeks inside the Top 100. Roger Federer leads the list with 1,165 weeks, an absolute record for weeks in the Top 100. The Frenchman Monfils is preparing for his final season as a professional, after announcing his retirement a couple of months ago, amidst physical complications at the age of 39.

“I’d like to share that the year ahead will be my last as a professional tennis player. The opportunity to turn my passion into a profession is a privilege I have cherished during every match and moment of my 21-year career,” he wrote in a statement. “Though this game means the world to me, I am tremendously at peace with my decision to retire at the end of the 2026 tennis season. When you love something so much, it never feels like a good time to say goodbye. But 40 will be the right time for me.”

Monfils is preparing for his final season as a professional in 2026. The Frenchman has been one of the main entertainers on the Tour for the last two decades, evolving from one of the most promising juniors ever seen to a fixture in major tournaments—and a player who guarantees a spectacle for fans every time he steps onto the court.

As a junior, he won three Grand Slams and reached the junior No. 1 ranking, and although that has not always been a guarantee of success, 'Le Monf' can boast a notable career, with 13 titles and 20 other finals reached. Although he coincided with the golden years of the Big Three, Monfils made a name for himself among the world's best players.

To date, he has accumulated 67 appearances in Grand Slam tournaments, achieving a total of 130 victories. His best runs were at the French Open 2008 and the US Open 2016, reaching the semi-finals on both occasions. He also has three Masters 1000 finals, although he did not manage to lift the trophy in any of them.

In early 2025, he achieved a milestone by becoming the oldest tennis player to lift an ATP title. He did so at the Auckland ASB Classic, defeating Zizou Bergs 6-3, 6-4 in the final, which will be the tournament of his comeback in 2026. Monfils finished the 2025 season ranked No. 68 in the world, and his last tournament was the Chengdu Open in September, where an injury forced him to retire during his first-round match against Alexander Shevchenko.