Mary Pierce’s countryman, Gael Monfils, has taken his name back from the Citi Open which is going to start from tomorrow in Washington. The reason behind it is believed to be his knee injury.
The injuries have made Monfils withdraw himself from quite a few tournaments in the ongoing season.
He had not taken part in a couple of events in the first quarter of the season because of his ankle problem and now, because of his knee problem, he has withdrawn from two more tournaments this month i.e. the Atlanta Open and the Citi Open.
Monfils has not played any match since his exit from the Wimbledon Championships. His journey at the All England Club had ended in the second round only as he had been knocked out by Jiri Vesely of Czech Republic.
Monfils had done alright in the French Open though qualifying for the Round of 8.
The Frenchman gave his all in the quarter finals as well at Roland Garros, but, his effort didn’t prove to be good enough for Andy Murray who managed to defeat him in 5 sets to make it to the semis.
The Citi Open is considered to be a fantastic warm up tournament ahead of the US Open. So, Monfils would be gutted to be missing it. But, he has got no option really. It would not have been wise on his part to risk the injury.
Monfils, who was in top 10 in the official ATP rankings in 2011, is presently ranked 21st in the world. He is third among the French players behind Richard Gasquet and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
Monfils hasn’t had a Grand Slam glory under his name so far. He had reached the Round of 4 in the 2008 French Open and that’s his best performance in a slam till date.