“We wanted to see him one last time”: Gilles Simon regrets the missed farewell of Gaël Monfils

At the National Training Center in Paris, the former 6th player in the world spoke for the first time since his appointment two months ago. Very verbose and available, the 41-year-old Frenchman was notably questioned about his friend's retirement at the beginning of October. Monfils, separated from his wife Elina Svitolina, was no longer able to continue his career until the Rolex Paris Masters, where he had planned to say goodbye at the beginning of November: “His situation is eminently personal. There are things that are personal, on which we don't want to dwell more than that. I am extremely sad because I think that, like many, this is not what we wanted, even for him, for the end of his career. The fact is that it is like that and we are not going to judge anything. I'm just sad for my friend in particular, but also for the athlete, the player, who can't finish the way he wanted to finish (...) I would have liked him to have the strength to go, but it was really very complicated for him. We are just very disappointed with the situation, already as friends but also as a tennis fan, we wanted to see him one last time. This is not what we hoped for, unfortunately, it was not possible. »

He’s a player who will definitely be missed. There isn't really a place where he left people indifferent.

Gilles Simon