“My little daughter Skaï wanted me to talk about her, because she told me, ‘You don’t talk enough about me, Dad,'” Gael Monfils said, his voice thick, addressing a packed Paris La Défense Arena on Nov. 3, 2026. “And she’s only four years old.” The 40-year-old Frenchman, who announced a surprise retirement after his separation from Elina Svitolina, accepted an invitation to the ATP Masters 1000 in Paris and was honored there the way he had hoped, ESPN Deportes reported.
Monfils, one of France’s finest players over the past three decades, delivered an emotional speech to a full stadium and was bid farewell by current and former stars including Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz.
The farewell at Paris La Défense Arena
Surrounded by the last great generation of French tennis — Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Richard Gasquet, Benoît Paire and Gilles Simon — Monfils stood before the sellout crowd and gave a speech that circled back, again and again, to his daughter.
“So Skaï, if you’re watching this, here I am talking about you,” he said, according to ESPN Deportes. “Maybe you’ll see it later.” He told the crowd his daughter had asked why people came to greet him, and that he told her it was because “Dad is very kind, and you have to be kind too.” She answered that she would be very kind, too, and then that she wanted to be a champion.
Monfils said he asked her champion of what, and she first said “of everything,” then settled on “I want to be champion of talking” before reconsidering and choosing tennis. “She wanted to dedicate this last performance to her dad,” he said. “It was in Paris, on Nov. 3, 2026. As an anecdote, today is exactly eight years since I was with your mom, so it’s a very symbolic date for the family.”
He closed with a message aimed directly at her: “Skaï, your dad was a tennis player, loved tennis, grew up in Paris and had a magnificent crowd. I sincerely hope you become champion of whatever you wish, and I hope that one day you can play here in Paris.”
Tributes from Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, Alcaraz and Sinner
The tributes arrived as video messages. Federer, a 20-time Grand Slam champion, spoke first: “Goodbye Gael. We all wanted to be a little like you. You have so many fans.”
Djokovic called it “an incredible career” and described Monfils as “one of the kindest and funniest guys. There’s no one you don’t get along with, Gaël.”
Nadal, recalling their shared junior days, said: “Congratulations on this formidable career. I remember the first time I saw you when we were very young, and we made it! We had very long and very successful careers.”
Alcaraz, speaking for the new generation, said: “For me you were a true inspiration and an outstanding athlete. The most important thing is that you are a great person off the court.”
Sinner added: “I wish you the best for this new chapter. We’re going to miss you a lot, especially off the court, in the locker rooms and restaurants.”
Other players who sent messages included Valentin Vacherot, Alex de Miñaur, Taylor Fritz, Stan Wawrinka, Alexander Zverev, Lorenzo Musetti, Arthur Fils, Daniil Medvedev and Félix Auger-Aliassime, ESPN Deportes reported, leaving Monfils departing as one of the most beloved players on tour, on and off the court.
Why the Paris farewell mattered
Monfils had initially decided not to compete at his home Masters 1000, but accepted the invitation to appear for the tribute. The timing carried personal weight: the Nov. 3 date marked exactly eight years since he met Svitolina, with whom he shares daughter Skaï, making the family anecdote part of a deliberately symbolic goodbye.
For a player who spent three decades as one of France’s standard-bearers, the scene at La Défense — the old guard of French tennis in the stands, the biggest names in the sport on screen — closed a career defined as much by personality as by results.
