Gael Monfils starts the new year with a familiar face as new coach.

The French No. 1 has hired Gunter Bresnik, Dominic Thiem's former coach, as his new coach.

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The 59-year-old Bresnik previously coached Boris Becker, Henri Leconte, Patrick McEnroe and Ernests Gulbis.

The veteran coach will not travel to Australia. Monfils will be coached by Richard Ruckelshausen, the French ATP Cup captain, in Melbourne. Monfils lists both Bresnik and Ruckelshausen as his coaches on his ATP player page.



Bresnik began working with Thiem when the Austrian was eight years old. The pair worked together through April 2019 before splitting.

Days after Thiem won his maiden major at the US Open last summer, Bresnik filed a lawsuit against Thiem's family.

Wolfgang Thiem, Thiem’s father, spoke about the fractured relationship on Austrian television in September.

“It really makes me sad. I was a good friend of Gunter Bresnik,” Wolfgang Thiem said. “We are now so far past our working with him that he sued us. The situation is unpleasant, but the story is over for me. Things have been going uphill since the separation.”

Bresnik responded to the broadcast in a statement by saying, “I ask for your understanding that I will not comment on this for the time being. To focus on this discussion would be disrespectful to Dominic’s outstanding performance in New York. This should be the media focus and nothing else.” 

Photo credit: Mark Peterson