Gael Monfils Injured in UTS Circuit Match Against Jack Draper

Participating in the innovative UTS circuit (Ultimate Tennis Showdown), the league created by Patrick Mouratoglou with shorter matches divided into quarters and unconventional rules, could have been expensive for Gael Monfils. The Frenchman was injured this Saturday while he was playing against Jack Draper. In a incident in the third quarter, when returning a blow from the British, Monfils sprained his right ankle and immediately fell down with obvious gestures of pain. Despite this, he continued playing, but shortly after he apologized to the chair umpire, Frenchman Mohamed Lahyani, and his rival decided to retire.

The extent of the illness of the 37-year-old French tennis player, who has had a difficult time in recent years due to injuries, was not known at that time. In 2023 he experienced a rebound and returned to the Top-100 (he is 74th) with the icing on the cake of a title in Stockholm. In 2022 he had been champion in Adelaide 1 and in 2021, finalist in Sofia, always without sufficient continuity to be able to consolidate his recovery. Fortunately for him, the sprain doesn’t seem to be serious, because he later returned to the court to face Rune and lost.

Monfils, married to the Ukrainian player Elina Svitolina, who this recently concluded season returned to compete after becoming a mother, has his hopes of doing well at the Australian Open and will first play with an invitation in Auckland. Although after his mishap against Draper he left the court on his own feet, he did so limping and was a doubt for the rest of the tournament. On Friday, Monfils had beaten Kazakh Alexander Bublik, who lost again this Saturday against Rune.

Ruud, first finalist

For the rest, the UTS 2023 Grand Final, held at the ExCel London in London, led to Casper Ruud’s qualification for the Final Four on Sunday. The Norwegian beat the Frenchman Benoit Paire on the first day after losing against the Russian Andrey Rublev. And in the second, the former world number two defeated the Argentine Diego Schwartzman. Rublev also achieved the pass, after power with Paire. They advance undefeated in Group A. In Group B, Draper obtained the first place to play in the Final Four and will face Ruud, and Rune passed as second and will run into Rublev.

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2023-12-16 20:42:44
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