The former ITF juniors World number 1, Gael Monfils played against the former world number 1 Novak Djokovic in the Cincinnati Open this week. Aged 36 and 37 respectively, both Djokovic and Monfils have had their share of achievements and success in the realm of professional tennis. While La Monf is known for his magical charisma, Novak still owns the stage with his countless achievements and records.
Spawned from the fantastic era of tennis, both Nole and Gael stood out for their tennis finesse. They both garnered individual fanbases for their displays of pure class and talent on the tennis court. Over the past two decades that these two have been playing professionally, they had 18 memorable duels. This Cincinnati Open didn’t just mark their 19th meet, but also Novak Djokovic’s new record.
Novak Djokovic sets new record beating Gael Monfils to reach the quarter-finals in Cincinnati
The fight started back in the US Open 2005 and many eyes were on the ITF No. 1 junior, Gael Monfils. Just the previous year, in 2004, the Frenchman had won all three of the junior Grand Slam, losing just 2 sets. So parts of the tennis community were quite confident that the then-Serbian rookie did not stand a chance.
In 2005, the fact that Nole won the match against the extremely agile junior Monfils came as a shock to many in the tennis community. Fast-forward to 10 years later, the Serbinator remains unbeaten by the junior Champion, Gael Monfils.
In these past 18 years, this dynamic duo has gone up against each other 18 times, and every single time, Djokovic took the win. Recently, these two icons played in the Cincinnati Open and the pattern continued as Nole defeated his opponent in straight sets (6-3, 6-2) without even giving the French entertainer much of a chance.
"Everybody talks about my age, what about him?!"@DjokerNole is full of praise for friend & opponent, Gael Monfils 🫶 pic.twitter.com/KbwAGgg37w
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) August 17, 2023
Post-match, Novak was grinning ear-to-ear when he was talking about his opponent. The amount of respect and admiration the former world number one had for La Monf was seen through his beautiful speech.
Tennis community reacts to Novak Djokovic’s massive win in Cincinnati
The OG tennis fans who have been following this duo and witnessing their journey seem to have loved everything about this match. Laud and praise for both the players came showering as the nostalgia kicked in. Fans recalled how they embarked on this journey together and have both left their mark on the world of tennis.
Not against any bum but a junior champion! One of the best junior champions the game has ever seen https://t.co/eHkG2hUCgl
— Rambo (@breezy_Xcoba) August 18, 2023
only goat things… in this house we love monfils and want him to always win but never against djokovic 😄
— 23 (@d1okovic) August 18, 2023
The goat 🐐 keeps destroying records every day
Idemoooooo— Ibrahim #23 🇸🇾🇷🇸✝️✝️ (@IbrahimKhory) August 18, 2023
What are your thoughts on this long-standing rivalry? Let us know about your favorite Novak-Gael meetup in the comments section below!
