On Tuesday night, September 1, Gael Monfils entered Louis Armstrong Stadium to celebrate a birthday and left with a new place in US Open history. In his 18th and final New York appearance, the Frenchman defeated Paraguay's Adolfo Daniel Vallejo 2-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-0 and reached the second round on the day he turned 40.
The beginning did not look designed for a party. Vallejo won five consecutive games in the opening set and took the initiative while Monfils searched for spacing and rhythm in his legs. The response came early in the second. The veteran began returning from farther inside the court, protected his serve and turned the rest of the match into a display of control: he conceded only three games across the final three sets and finished with 37 winners.
His age gave the result a dimension the score alone cannot explain. Monfils became the first man aged 40 or older to win a US Open singles match since Jimmy Connors, also 40, in 1992. Over the past 50 years, only Ken Rosewall, who was 42 in 1977, Connors and now Monfils have advanced in the tournament after reaching that age.
It was also Monfils' 34th victory in New York, the most by a Frenchman in event history. The total stretches across two decades at Flushing Meadows and includes his run to the 2016 semifinals without dropping a set. At 40, the signature remained familiar: elastic defence, sudden acceleration and airborne shots that make a crowd react before the ball lands.
The setting made the night even more exact. Monfils has announced that 2026 will be his final season and arrived at the US Open to contest the 71st and last Grand Slam of his career. This was not simply his final New York opener; it was one of his last chances to extend on court a relationship that began with his first appearance in 2005.
After match point, the crowd sang happy birthday while Elina Svitolina watched the celebration from the stands. Monfils captured the feeling in four words: “The atmosphere is unbelievable.” The response from the audience was a tribute, but the level of his performance kept the evening from becoming an exercise in nostalgia.
The second round will sharpen that tension between memory and the present. On Thursday, Monfils will face Learner Tien, the reigning Next Gen ATP Finals champion and the winner of their only previous meeting, in Montreal last month. After that match, the 20-year-old American asked the Frenchman he had admired growing up for an autograph.
That reversal may be the clearest measure of what Monfils has built. He reached his farewell as a reference point for his next opponent and will still have to compete with him for every point. At 40, New York's last dance has at least one more act — not because the script made room for it, but because Monfils was still able to change the match.
Sources consulted: the US Open/USTA and ATP Tour. Reporting updated September 2, 2026.