Gael Monfils celebrates 40th birthday with first-round win at US Open

[p]Playing on his 40th birthday, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/monfils-gael/fm7G8o0m/"]Monfils[/a] opened shakily against [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/vallejo-daniel/U5RiWEZu/"]Adolfo Daniel Vallejo[/a] of Paraguay, but decisively turned the tables after the first set for a [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/tennis/monfils-g-fm7G8o0m/vallejo-d-U5RiWEZu/?mid=2HVgf06C"]2-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-0[/a] win.[/p][p]Monfils, who will retire after this season, played with his trademark showmanship, offering exaggerated bows after embellishing a putaway shot in the fourth set with a leap in the air.[/p][image alt="Match stats: Vallejo vs Monfils" id="c4bc4aac-f1f5-487a-82d3-1cdbc06d5949" credit-line="Flashscore" guid="82d94ce5-2ffb-4726-99cd-da8c53d93ee2" original-width="2160" original-height="2700" /][p]Evidence of approval came when the crowd joined an impromptu performance of "Happy Birthday"[b] [/b]after the match.[/p][p][b]"You guys always make it electric, amazing,"[/b] Monfils said in an on-court interview.[b] "Let's keep it going for the second one."[/b][/p][embed guid="ad90fbeb-9500-4320-b69f-8479b0c24d00" url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhGo8Ws_K7Y&pp=ygUHTW9uZmlsc9IHCQkaDAGHKiGM7w%3D%3D" social-type="youtube" /][p]This is Monfils' 18th appearance at the US Open. His best showing came in 2016 when he reached the semi-finals and lost to [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/djokovic-novak/AZg49Et9/"]Novak Djokovic[/a].[/p][p]Monfils, who reached a career-high ranking of sixth in 2016, is down to 311th, having only played a handful of tournaments in 2026.[/p][p]In contrast to Monfils, who is playing in his 70th Grand Slam tournament, Tuesday marked just the third of the 22-year-old Vallejo.[/p][infobox id="3dc51b3a-107f-482b-9173-a97d347ef1b3" /]