(September 3, 2026) FLUSHING MEADOWS, NY – Gael Monfils said goodbye to the US Open on Thursday night when he lost in the second round to No. 14 seed Learner Tien.
The 40-year-old Frenchman lost 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 to Tien who is half Monfils’ age and asked for and received his autograph after beating him in Montreal last month.
Fans in Louis Armstrong Stadium chanted, “Mon-fils! Mon-fils!” and gave him a standing ovation at the end of the match.
“I think when you’re playing someone that’s kind of on their retirement year, I think especially against him, it’s a very special matchup for me,” said Tien.
“I think playing him in Montreal helped with just the nerves and seeing him on the other side of the court, but still, in the third set, I felt a little bit of pressure just to close out the match, but happy to get through and grateful to share the court with him again.”
“It’s been a long ride,” Monfils said, calling it his second favorite crowd after Roland Garros in Paris. “It’s been an absolute honor for me to play all these years in front of you. I tried my best, tried to perform high-professional tennis but also give you a great show, and you guys give me great love, so I will never forget that.”
On Tuesday, Monfils became the oldest man to win a match at the tournament since Jimmy Connors in 1992, who also did so on his 40th birthday.
“I was unbelievable atmosphere,” Monfils said to media. “You know, amazing energy on the court. It was really nice. You always want to give a little bit more, you know, you want to stay a little bit more.
“I gave my absolute all, even I think I went over, but Learner was a really tough one tonight. Really big credit to him. He really held, you know, his focus and, you know, with the atmosphere and everything, so, you know, big congrats to him.”
After the match, a video montage of his career at the US Open was shown on the screens at Louis Armstrong Stadium.
“It was really nice, he said. “Saw this first match against Novak in 2005. But as I say, you know, even looking this montage, I was thinking, you know, even in juniors when I came first year and then see the difference of the color of the courts and everything, so it was really nice.
“Reminds, actually, how many matches that I played here and how many hundred atmosphere that I had, because they showed, like, great matches with, I remember, a ton of points and memories.”
So what’s next for the Frenchman after retirement at the end of the year? Banking.
“I have a new chapter coming next year. I will work in finance,” he said. “I already sign to work in wealth management in a Swiss company.
“So my next chapter working in office and working in finance. I will always have a look on tennis, because I love the sport. My wife’s playing.
“I don’t think, you know, this next year I will do so much about tennis. But, you know, I’ll be around definitely no matter what for Elina a little bit, but I will be more a finance guy.”
Asked if he was going to bring his personality and style to banking he said to media: “I think you should ask my wife, you’d be very surprised, is of course in tennis I am the way I am, but I think she can tell you that she wish I be like this at home. I think at home I’m a little bit more strict, more serious, completely different.
“Here is my, you know, joy place where I can let my emotion go. Then I’m pretty — it’s tough to say, but I’m really not flexible in a way, that I really like everything done straightaway and a little bit maniac, so it fits that for sure for my next chapter.
“Tennis is completely different.”
This year at the US Open has seen three men play in their last US Open before retirement: Kei Nishikori in the qualifying, Stan Wawrinka, who lost in the first round, and Gael Monfils.
