French veteran Gael Monfils became the oldest player to win an ATP Tour title after beating Zizou Bergs 6-3, 6-4 in Auckland on Saturday.
Monfils claimed his 13th tour title 20 years after his first and at the age of 38 years, 132 days. He took over from Roger Federer, who was 38 years, 74 days old when he won the final tour title of his career, the Swiss Indoor title at Basel in 2019.
Monfils currently is ranked 52 and is the oldest player in the history of the ATP Tour to be ranked in the top 100.
Pancho Gonzalez was 44 years, 7 months and 4 days old when he won a Kingston, Jamaica singles title in 1972, prior to the formation of the ATP Tour in 1990.
The Auckland final was delayed on Saturday by a medical emergency in the crowd but Monfils showed the same mixture of aggression and tenacious defense to claim his first title since the Stockholm Open in 2023.
Prior to the start of the Auckland tournament, Monfils spoke about how his love of tennis kept him going.
“I love tennis. I love what I’m doing so of course all the sacrifices you do, they are a little bit easier. When you love something, it’s easier to keep pushing,” he said.
“I’ve been enjoying myself since the first day I played tennis and (at) 60 years old I will still have this joy. Practice, it’s easy. It’s in the DNA. Stay in shape, it’s easy. It’s more the travel.”
After collecting the Auckland trophy, Monfils headed straight to the airport for a flight to Melbourne where he will face Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard in the first round of the Australian Open.
