Gaël Monfils: “Winning the Australian Open ? No, I don't even dream about it. My dream is to grow old with lots of children and in good health”

Gaël Monfils après sa victoire au troisième tour et celle de sa femme Elina Svitolina. MAXPPP – JAMES ROSS

The Parisian, qualified for the eighth finals of the Australian Open, answered the question of whether it was still a dream to win a Grand Slam and the tournament in Melbourne therefore, Saturday January 18.

A few minutes after his feat in the 3rd round of the Australian Open, where he eliminated world number four Taylor Fritz, Gaël Monfils (41st) judged on Saturday that he was not “favorite” for his round of 16 match against American Ben Shelton (20th).

While he did not yet know whether his opponent would be Shelton or Italian Lorenzo Musetti, the 38-year-old Frenchman claimed his “match by match” approach.

After beating Fritz in four sets, “i'm going to enjoy it and i'm going to think about the match later”, smiled the Parisian, the only player with Roger Federer to have reached the round of 16 in Melbourne after his 38th birthday (since the 128-player draw was introduced at the Australian Open in 1988).

Father of a daughter with the Ukrainian Elina Svitolina

“There I think I'm playing Shelton or Musetti. Once again, I'm not the favorite”, assured Monfils. “I'm happy to have played a great match. But I think I don't have enough perspective yet”, he explained.

“La Monf” has never yet faced Ben Shelton on the ATP circuit, winner in four sets of Lorenzo Musetti. But “he plays (in an) incredible way”, he said on Saturday.

Asked at a press conference about his chances of winning the tournament, the Frenchman was clear: “Winning ? No, I don't even dream about it. My dream is to grow old with lots of children and in good health”, he said Monfils, father of a little girl whose mother is the Ukrainian player Elina Svitolina. Who also won against the world number four, the Italian Jasmine Paolini 2-6, 6-4, 6-0.