By Antonio Suarez
Suffering from a left wrist injury, Gael Monfils has been ruled out for up to six weeks, which could mean that he is likely to miss the first round of France’s Davis Cup clash with Austria next month.
Monfils had reached the semi-finals of the ATP tournament in California on Friday, however the tournament organizers announced soon afterwards that the French number two seed, who is ranked 12th in the world, had pulled out of the event. A statement on the organizers’ website said, “SAP Open number two seed Gael Monfils was forced to withdraw from the semifinals due to left wrist injury (inflammation) and has also withdrawn from Memphis, Acapulco and Davis Cup. He will be out for four to six weeks and hopes to return for Indian Wells.”
Monfils has a reputation for being plagued by injury, and is a right-handed player. However his injury will prevent him from playing his two-handed backhand effectively. Monfils added on his website, “It’s been a month and a half that I've had this pain. I can’t hit my backhand. I tried, but my backhand is very soft. I have a better backhand than I showed here- more powerful.”
The setback for the French-man handed Canadian Milos Raonic, Monfils’s semi-final opponent, a place in the finals where he will play either Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina or Spanish top seed Fernando Verdasco.
Monfils had been competing in the tournament this week in a bid to fine tune preparations for the Davis Cup tie on March 4-6 in Vienna.
