"If we could achieve the same things as them, we would be legends": Monfils believes it is unfair to criticise French players due to Big Four and Wawrinka era

Gael Monfils ncluded Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka as legends. With the competed against the Big-3.

Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic have been the dominant players for the past 20 years, which has often overshadowed other great players, according to Monfils. The Big-3 have collectively won 64 Grand Slam titles so far, even with Djokovic performing at his best and uncertainty surrounding Nadal's return in 2024

Monfils spoke on "Game, Set and Talk" about the difficulty of comparing players from the same generation to the members of the Big-3 and downplayed the fact that there hasn't been a French player who could win a Grand Slam in decades, despite sharing the era with significant players from his own country such as Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Richard Gasquet, and Gilles Simon.

“We always want to compare the incomparable. Nadal, Djokovic and Federer are not champions,” Monfils said.

“These guys are legends. People forget it. If we could achieve the same things as them, we would be legends too.”

To illustrate his point, Monfils mentioned Nadal's record of 14 French Open titles and the difficulty that two "legends" like Federer and Djokovic had in achieving the same feat. The Frenchman also referred to Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka as tennis legends.

“I always take the example of Roland Garros. Who has won it 14 times? Has this ever existed? Two other legends have only won it three times, once Roger and twice Novak. And we are slapped on the knuckles. And we talk about these three players but for me Murray and Wawrinka are also legends,” added Monfils.

The 34-year-old tennis player is currently ranked outside the top 300 as he hasn't played any tournaments since the Canadian Masters in August 2022 and the Indian Wells tournament in March 2023 due to an injury, and he hasn't been able to string together a series of good results.