Gael Monfils, Lleyton Hewitt Prove On January 11 That “Age Is Just A Number”

By Randy Walker

@TennisPublisher

Gael Monfils made history on Saturday, January 11, 2025 when, at the age of 38 years, 132 days he became the oldest player since the current ATP Tour was created in 1990 to win an ATP singles title. Monfils won the ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand defeating Zizou Berg 6-3, 6-4 in the final.

Ironically, the Monfils win came 27 years to the day when another record win occurred on the other end of the age spectrum when Lleyton Hewitt, at the age of 16 years, 11 months, became the youngest player since the modern ATP Tour started in 1990 to win a singles title when he won the title in his hometown of Adelaide, Australia.

“It means a lot [to win]. Age is a number,” Monfils said in his on-court interview after his win in Auckland. “But we keep working. I keep believing that I can play high-quality tennis and I have been showing it this week so I am very happy. [My first title] was 20 years ago. I still have the passion to play tennis. I feel I [can] still strike the ball very well. Hopefully, many more to come.”

Hewitt’s win is documented in my book “On This Day In Tennis History” (for sale and download here: https://a.co/d/5HpHmxw) and excerpted here:

1998 – Lleyton Hewitt wins his first ATP singles title as a 16-year-old wild card ranked No. 550 in the world, defeating fellow Australian Jason Stoltenberg 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4) at the Australian Men’s Hard Court Championships in his hometown of Adelaide. At the age of 16 years, 11 months, Hewitt becomes the youngest player to win an ATP singles title since Michael Chang, at the age of 16 years, eight months, wins the title in San Francisco in 1988. Says Stoltenberg after the match, “He just played like a 16-year-old. You do what comes naturally rather than thinking what you should do.”

Statistics and records in tennis can be skewed in different ways to reflect history-making efforts. Many times, the ATP Tour proclaims (in this case for instance) that Monfils is the oldest player since this version of the men’s professional tennis tour began in 1990 to win a title. The more accurate and appropriate time dimension would be since the start of the “Open Era” in 1968 when amateurs and professionals began playing in the same events, marking the real start of professional tennis. Tournament records are 100 percent complete and accurate in the ATP Tour era (since 1990) since this is when tournaments records were more accurately documented by the ATP Tour staff, while some records and stats can slip through the cracks in the 1968 to 1989 time period. For instance, in the context of the “oldest to win a title” statistic, it was revealed by diligence from Greg Sharko and Josh Rey, now former ATP Tour employees, that the oldest player to win an ATP singles title in the Open Era was Pancho Gonzales in Kingston, Jamaica in 1972 at the age of 44 years, seven months and not Gonzales when he won the title in Des Moines, Iowa 10 months earlier, as has been well documented, including in the authoratiative tennis history book “The Bud Collins History of Tennis” which is for sale and download here: https://a.co/d/cEANHND

The discovery of the Gonzales historic tournament win from 2023 can be read about here https://worldtennismagazine.com/new-tennis-history-unearthed-by-tennis-archaeologists/21720