Prior to this encounter, these two had collectively played 1,815 matches. Amazingly, only six had come versus each other, their rivalry deadlocked at three wins apiece. Then again, perhaps this relative paucity makes sense, for while over the last two decades, Wawrinka and Monfils have occupied parallel tracks, the roads they’ve traveled have been greatly different.
Each was an accomplished junior. In 2003, Wawrinka won the junior title at Roland Garros. But a year later, Monfils made an even bigger statement, earning junior triumphs at the Australian Open, Roland Garros, and Wimbledon. The combination of those results and Monfils’ capacity for dazzling shot-making raised expectations that a new champion would in time blossom.
Soon enough, as Monfils made his way into the pro ranks, he was clustered with compatriots Richard Gasquet, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, and Gilles Simon as the new incarnation of France’s iconic “Four Musketeers”—the quartet of French greats who’d dominated the majors in the late ’20 and early ‘30s. But at heart, the contemporary incarnation Monfils theoretically occupied was more something cooked up in a conference room than a sustainable cohort that marched in sync to repeated triumphs. Put bluntly, the four embarked on their own highly different journeys.
Consider Monfils’ trek an endlessly engaging carnival ride, filled with a great many twists and turns. “Little surprises around every corner,” candy man Willy Wonka once said, “but nothing dangerous.” The highlights included a pair of Slam semis (’08 Roland Garros, ’16 US Open), 12 tournament titles, a career high of No. 6 in the world and a current spot at No. 33. There were also frequent injuries, then comebacks.
