As the tennis season resumes, the players will head to Oceania, and in particular New Zealand, with the ATP 250 in Auckland from January 12 to 17, 2026. Title holder, Gaël Monfils was offered a wildcard in order to be able to defend his title. Three other French people will be there.
While he has announced that he will retire at the end of this 2026 season, Gaël Monfils still has a few tournaments ahead of him for a final year as a professional tennis player. And, as a result, the “Monf” will quickly get into action at the start of the year, since he was offered a wildcard to allow him to participate in the Auckland tournament.
A tournament that the 39-year-old Frenchman knows well since he is the defending champion. At the time, he had a superb run, losing only one set during the week, and beating Zizou Bergs in the final. It will therefore be a great opportunity for Gaël Monfils to defend his title and try to keep it, but to achieve this, he will have a hard time, since there are some good people, especially among the top seeds. The American Ben Shelton (9th in the ATP rankings) will be seeded number 1. Among the other contenders for the title, we find Casper Ruud (12th, seeded number 2), Jakub Mensik (19th), Cameron Norrie (27th), and Alex Michelsen (38th).
Three French people in addition to Monfils
A tough table which will allow us to launch everyone’s season and best prepare for the Australian Open for future participants. Another player who has announced his retirement in 2026, the Swiss Stan Wawrinka will benefit from the second wildcard of the tournament and will therefore be one of the contenders for the final victory.
As for the French players, besides Gaël Monfils, there will be three of them in the New Zealand adventure. We will thus find Alexandre Muller (42nd), who will also be seeded number 8 in the tournament, but also Valentin Royer (58th), and finally Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard (59th). The latter was injured on the sidelines of the 2025 edition and had to withdraw. There will therefore be 20 of them, from January 12 to 17, 2026, who want to succeed Gaël Monfils.
