Gael Monfils Suffers a Major Setback Before Australian Open 2020

World No.10 Gael Monfils has been forced to pull out of the Mubadala World Tennis Championship 2019 due to an injury. Monfils became the second player to withdraw from the 3-day exhibition event in Abu Dhabi after Daniil Medvedev.

Monfils’ withdrawal from the World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi, ended his hopes of a second appearance in the event after a nine-year absence. The 33-years-old made his debut at the championship in 2011, when he was defeated by Novak Djokovic in the opening round.

“I always enjoy coming to Abu Dhabi and was excited to be playing there once again,” the Frenchman said. “Due to injury, that’s not going to be possible, but I hope to see you all soon.”

Gael Monfils injury-prone 2019 season 

Monfils won his sole 2019 singles title at the ATP Rotterdam in February, defeating Stan Wawrinka in the final match. He also reached the quarterfinals of the US Open 2019. In the last 8 of the US Open 2019, Monfils fell short of Matteo Berrettini in a five-set thriller.

However, the Parisian suffered from frequent injuries in the 2019 season. He pulled out of the first tournament of the season – ATP Auckland Open for the third consecutive year due to a quadricep injury. In February, the French tennis star pulled out of the Open 13 Provence in Marseille due to a wrist injury.

He was then forced to retire ahead of his match against Dominic Thiem at the Indian Wells Masters in March due to a strained left Achilles. Still suffering from the Achilles injury, Monfils also pulled out of the Miami Masters, next week.

The right ankle injury also forced Gael Monfils to withdraw from the Monte-Carlo Masters in April. Ahead of the Wimbledon Championships 2019, Monfils suffered from a sprain in his left ankle while running sprints in training, as reported by L’Equipe.

The ankle sprain propelled the 33-year-old to pull out of his match against Rafael Nadal at the Rogers Cup. However, the French played injury-free for the last three months. He finished his season just a few weeks ago at the 2019 Davis Cup.

Last week, the Frenchman was one of the eight players that participated at the inaugural Diriyah Tennis Cup. The tournament was held on the outskirts of Riyadh in Saudi Arabia. Gael Monfils certainly aims to give some rest to his body in order to ensure his participation at the 2020 Australian Open.

Karen Khachanov and Andrey Rublev to replace Medvedev and Monfils

Khachanov and fellow Russian Rublev will replace Medvedev and Monfils for the three-day tournament’s 12th edition starting Thursday. The two made their Mubadala World Tennis Championship debuts in 2018 and 2017 respectively.

The Abu Dhabi championship will begin from 19th December and the final will be on Sunday 21. Along with Khachanov and Rublev, the tournament will feature Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Hyeon Chung.