Ga\u00ebl Monfils entered 2026 knowing it would be his final season as a professional, which also means this will be his last time at the Mutua Madrid Open. The Frenchman is set to play his opener against Camilo Ugo Carabelli in a match that may well prove to be an\u00a0adieu, as it could be his last appearance at the Caja Magica. Monfils is no ordinary player, for years he has been one of the most beloved and admired tennis stars among Madrid\u2019s fans. The Frenchman has produced more than the odd Hot Shot in the Spanish capital with his spectacular, acrobatic brand of tennis.<\/p>\n
The former world number six is making his 15th appearance at the tournament this year, a figure that speaks volumes about his connection with Madrid. Over the years, he has produced some of the most epic battles in memory on the Manolo Santana court, squaring off against great names of his generation such as Rafa Nadal, twice, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Andy Murray.<\/p>\n
His best results in Madrid were quarterfinal finishes in 2008 and 2010. His run in the latter edition was particularly remarkable, as he managed to defeat two top ten players at the time, Fernando Gonz\u00e1lez and Andy Roddick, before bowing out to Rafa Nadal, the tournament\u2019s most decorated player.<\/p>\n
Monfils will leave behind him a lengthy and unmistakable track record on tour. He has amassed 13 ATP titles in a career that has remained competitive for two decades. The first came in 2005, on the clay courts of Sopot, which was notable for being the tournament where Nadal began his own trophy collection a year earlier. His latest, to date, came in Auckland in 2025. Two titles separated by twenty years, not many can say that.<\/p>\n
For all these reasons, his match against Carabelli will be one of those encounters that are worth watching with a different mindset. After all, it could be Monfils\u2019 last in Madrid; the final appearance of a unique, charismatic player who has always enjoyed a connection with the crowd. If you do catch it, be sure to make the most of it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ga\u00ebl Monfils entered 2026 knowing it would be his final season as a professional, which also means this will be his last time at the Mutua Madrid Open. The Frenchman is set to play his opener against Camilo Ugo Carabelli in a match that may well prove to be an\u00a0adieu, as it could be his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":107036,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"mc4wp_mailchimp_campaign":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[824,838,837],"tags":[825,1163],"class_list":["post-107071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-noticias-mutua-en","category-noticias-tenis-masculino-en","category-noticias-tenis-en","tag-atp-en-2","tag-gael-monfils"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107071"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107071\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":107076,"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107071\/revisions\/107076"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/107036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}