Monfils has been listed as retired since 5 October. Now he has handed back his Lyon wild card

By the Data Desk · Published 14 OCT 06:30 · Updated 15 OCT 07:00

Gaël Monfils' name has been on the official list of retired players kept by the International Tennis Integrity Agency since 5 October. Under the rule printed on the same page, a listed player cannot simply return to a sanctioned event, yet Monfils is due in Lyon next week on a wild card, RMC Sport noticed on Tuesday evening.

• The ITIA's Retired Players List shows Monfils, France, with the date 5 October 2026 (checked on 14 October).
• The page says listed players may not return to sanctioned events unless they have been available to the ITIA's out-of-competition programme for at least six months before the event: Lyon starts on 19 October, 14 days after the date on the list.
• There is no statement yet from Monfils, his team, the ITIA, the ATP or the Lyon tournament.

RMC Sport put the question bluntly on Tuesday evening: did Monfils retire without saying so? The list itself does not answer it. It records a name, a nationality and a date, and the page does not say why a name was added. What it does carry is a rule with consequences.

That rule is about eligibility, not about anything a player has done. A listed player who wants to come back has to be available to the ITIA's out-of-competition programme for six months first. Read literally, that rules out any sanctioned event in October. RMC notes that Monfils' last official match was his defeat at the US Open on 4 September.

The calendar he planned looked different. When he announced on 1 October 2025 that 2026 would be his final season, he said "40 will be the right time for me" (ATP Tour); he turned 40 in September. Univers Tennis listed him on 1 October as a wild card for the ATP 250 in Lyon, 19 to 25 October at the LDLC Arena, and French media expected a final appearance at the Paris Masters, which runs from 31 October to 8 November.

So there are two ways this ends. Either Monfils or the ITIA say the entry was a mistake or a formality and it disappears from the list, or the wild card in Lyon is not used and the farewell happens off the court. What happens next: the Lyon draw, before the tournament starts on 19 October, is the latest point at which we will know.