Is Gaël Monfils Tennis' Greatest Entertainer or Biggest Underachiever? 

Monfils at his best is grand slam winner level but he just never had the mentality to put it together for seven matches in a row.

No reason this guy wouldn't have won at least 1 slam if he had truly dedicated himself to the game.

No matter still love his humility through his game and that's why he's awesome !

Why does the presumption have to be he's an underachiever? Why is the expectation that not winning a grand slam singles event is somehow a sign of being unsuccessful? Why do we look at Monfils for not living up to OUR expectations? He's a talented player who has kept us entertained since the early 00s. Perhaps we should thank him instead of unloading our expectations all over him.

Excellent video. Totally objective information and verdict, as well as a nice collection of Monfils moments and facts. He's awesome, and always love seeing him play more

Definitely underachieved. I’ve seen him practice and his work ethic vs other top players was always poor. Combine that with constant on court choking - and that’s his career.

Underachiever since he was a junior. In 2004, he won the Australian, French, and Wimbledon junior singles titles. He had no competition who could keep him from winning the US Open and completing the Junior Slam. What happened? He did not want to do it because it bored him. He did not keep this to himself, and voiced it to anyone that would ask him what his expectations for the US Open were. He did have an amazing career and made a lot of money, so perhaps he did what he aimed for. Who knows, but the man seems happy with what he's achieved.

Considering that the vast majority of tennis players who play seriously would consider it an achievement if they ever QUALIFY for an ATP event... I don't think anyone with above single digit IQ would call it underachieving to: -Win 11 tournaments -Make it to the finals of 3 masters -Make the final four of TWO grand slams All the while always having fun and never considering it work or a job? Never once hating what you do. AND getting paid 20 million dollars to do what you love? Yeah. This man has WON. In a better place than many of the "greats".

Recently I saw him play… and I just loved it that’s why I wanted to know how good was he in his prime

Very talented player that had to much fun instead of taking it serious he definitely could have won a major

He's both!!!

Love Gael, is charm, kindness and class, maybe he could do more, but no regrets as far as seeing an incredible talented individual.

I play tennis to have fun and enjoy the game, and it looks like Monfils made a living doing it. 👏

He could have a slam winner if he trained harder and had the right coaches. Tsonga, Gasquet, Monfils and Simon were the best French talent in the 2000s but never delivered

I still remember Roger Rasheed remark when he was coaching Gael "Do you want to hit an unbelievable winner or do you want to win the match" Sums up very well how well his coaches knew him and what Gael really wanted I'm sure he would have been a multiple slam winner, but was he serious about GS?

I think he is probably underachieving on purpose. He knows that the minute he wins a slam, everything will change. Coaches, sponsors will put pressure on him to stop his showboating and entertaining and be more serious and he is not willing to give that up and i don't blame him because that's probably what keeps him going on the court. At some point, he probably settled on having fun. He's made more than enough money on tour and he is a shoe-in for tournament directing after his career is over.

Very good analysis !

Besides David Nalbandian, he is the biggest underachiever in the last 20 years.

This man has god given talent . I don’t think he wanted it enough nonetheless he is a solidified hall of famer

The greatest entertainer and most talented after Federer in my opinion was Marcelo Rios

great video (second btw)

Both

Why not both?

6:34 I see Djokofish was cringe even back then😂.

He didn't have it in him to go that last step. Nevertheless a very entertaining player.

Gael: Nick, turning on light sabr, I am your father

I don't see your name/s in tennis top 1,000...did you say undeachiever? Play the game or reapect those who do no matter their capacities, that's none of your business. And FYI he is great that's why you took note....

The bludger

The reason why he hasn't won what he could have won is probably his shot selection and being too passive.

I agree there's other players who have underachieved worse it's just hard because not many people in the world have the talent to win grand slams, he had it but couldn't pull through.

Lacks the mentality, focus, dedication and killer instinct of a champion.

Berdych is underarchiver

Monfils has excellent skills and outstanding athletics. But to be successful in top tennis you need to have this ruthless killer instinct. You don't play for it to be nice. You play only to win. And you want to ALWAYS win. That are Djokovic, Nadal and Federer and now Medvedev. There is nothing else aside it. And that simply isn't Monfils. There are a ton of other things in life he enjoys and cares about. E.g. his lovely wife Elena (and now kid), music and having a good time. . He delivered great performances and always cared about bringing joy to the spectators and fans. And that is totally OK. We are all blessed to have him entertain us.

6:30 definitely not unnecessary and it wasn't even a hot shot, he was just trying to get to the ball.

👋

No.... Dustin Brown is...... Monfils, is still top 5 though. epic players to watch both of them. I want a docu vid on why Dustin is so inconsistant

David Nalbandian was a massive underachiever too.

Monfils is Djokovic's duck

He's both.

19* loses vs novak

Jake is the salt of the Earth!All praises to Yahawah bahasm Yahawashi bahasam rawchaa qadash!Qam Yasharahla!👑

Monfils reminds me a lot of Mark Philippoussis, Richard Gasquet, and Nick Kyrgios - all great strokes and athleticism. However, none (for differing reasons) having the deep and sincere commitment necessary to change their game styles at the crucial times, in order to grind out necessary wins for the Slam titles. Philippoussis at least had a bad injury reason in second half of his career to cite: that may have eroded his commitment level. But the other three can't really say even that. Monfils for me is the very definition of an exhibition player, rather than a tour player. He likes the rush of pulling off trick shots and momentary one shot challenges in the moment too much, rather than closing out matches 'boring'. His choice then (sigh). But it's robbed him of the big titles. He has only himself to blame on this, and I suspect that's why he's gone through so many coaches. They've all told him a version of this, and he didn't want to hear it. Wasted talent. He's content to be a Harlem Globetrotter, but not an NBA Titleist. Sad, but his life I guess.

oh he's a french man!? looks like an African man to me!! Beautiful!

Monfils has a defensive mentality. I love him but with his ability to counter hes probably never had to learn how to be aggressive. Also a big muscular black dude has to learn how to smile a lot. its a little hard to be a killer like that.

Tennis clown. Many enjoy watching him and his kind of tennis; I just never have.

defo the latter, look at when he won rotterdam, what age was he?

Imagine beating federer 4 times and being called a failure.

I think that players of African descent will eventually dominate tennis.

Look at the history of tennis; no great player attempted clownery on the court. They come and take care of business.

Biggest underachiever in recent tennis history. Nothing but a clown

Players of African Descent like being clowns on court and they are more loved when clowning, but once they take their game very seriously they are normally disliked... I mean look at how everyone dislikes Serena Williams

Respectable career? French players are NOT winners, period. The only player more dissapointing than Monfils is Gasquet. What a shame, they would have been a great addition to the big 6.

Leave Tennis Millionaire Gael alone. It’s so easy for idiots that can’t achieve anything in THEIR own lives to project unto others…. Find your OWN happiness and success. Bringing others down gets really old and obvious.