Gael Monfils retires suddenly from Chengdu Open as French star 'not in a good place'

Gael Monfils retired in the middle of his first-round match at the Chengdu Open when he appeared to pick up an ankle injury. The Frenchman took a close first set against Alexander Shevchenko, but Shevchenko started to mount a comeback and led by a beeak in the second set when Monfils pulled up mid-point.

The 39-year-old suddenly hopped to the back of the court in pain and fell to the ground. The physio came to the court and Monfils limped back to his bench, but decided to play on. However, he failed to win another game and called it quits around 15 minutes later.

Monfils was seeking his first match win since Wimbledon and played an impressive first set to take it in a tiebreak. But the Kazakh drew first blood in set two, breaking to go ahead, and he led 4-3 when Monfils suddenly felt a pain around his right ankle.

Shevchenko rushed over as the world No. 52 fell to the court in agony, and Monfils eventually made it to his bench, where the physio joined him for a chat.

He pointed towards his ankle and foot, but they only had a brief discussion, and the trainer left without giving Monfils any treatment. The French star had a quick laugh with the umpire and asked for 10 seconds before gathering himself and returning to the baseline.

Shevchenko held to extend his lead, but Monfils continued to struggle. He doubled over on the court in pain and dropped his racket, looking at his team helplessly and shaking his head.

“He's not in a good place physically or emotionally there, looks really upset,” commentator Miles Maclagan said as Monfils served at 3-5 down.

The former world No. 6 was broken again, giving Shevchenko the second set. But he still didn’t give up.

At the end-of-set changeover, Monfils sat at his bench with a towel over his head. He played on and even had a break point in the first game of the final set, but Shevchenko held.

With Monfils serving at 0-1 in the decider, he finally threw in the towel, shaking his head and approaching the net to shake hands with his opponent and the umpire.

Shevchenko is now through to the second round to face another Frenchman, sixth seed Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard. The world No. 96 showed his class as he paid tribute to Monfils after the match.

“I loved every second of the match, to be honest. Really, I didn’t want it to end like this,” he told the crowd.

“Like I said, he’s my childhood hero, I enjoy him so much. I just wish him a fast recovery and be back on the court because he is incredible. So many people look up to him, I hope he’s going to be fine.”

To be the first to receive the latest tennis news, join our WhatsApp community or newsletter