Gaël Monfils, classified as “retired” by the tennis anti-doping agency, can no longer “participate” in tournaments

He had two more tournaments in his sights: the ATP 250 in Lyon and especially the Masters 1000 in Paris. Finally Gaël Monfils, 40, is heading towards early retirement. The former world number 6 is, in fact, on the list of retired players of the ITIA (International tennis integrity agency), the body in charge of anti-doping in tennis. Semi-finalist at Roland-Garros in 2008, the Frenchman has 13 titles on the main circuit.

This registration now prevents you from participating in “an official competition”. If the Frenchman has not yet communicated on the subject, the rules of the international agency responsible for the fight against doping are very clear: players “declared retired” cannot “participate in official competitions unless they have submitted to out-of-competition anti-doping controls for at least six months before the competition in question”. Clearly, it is now impossible for Gaël Monfils to appear at the tournaments in Lyon next week or in Paris scheduled for October and November because he is no longer subject to anti-doping controls.

After the end of her retirement, Serena Williams waited six months to play again

Registration on this list of retired players coincides with the retirements of the various players in world tennis. For example, on the ITIA website, we can see that Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was put on this list on May 25, 2022, the day after his last match on the circuit at Roland Garros against the Norwegian Casper Ruud.

Conversely, former world number 1 Serena Williams, 45 years old today, was able to return to the courts and official competitions six months after resuming anti-doping controls. Three years after her retirement, the American had to again provide her contact details daily for random doping controls.