The French player announced late Wednesday, May 31, on the eve of a second round which was to oppose him to Holger Rune, that he was forced to leave the tournament at the Porte d’Auteuil. The announcement came to close a dark day for French tennis marked by six eliminations.
There will be no match between Gaël Monfils and Holger Rune this Thursday evening, June 1, at Roland-Garros. The French player announced late Wednesday evening, on the eve of this second round, that he was forced to forfeit due to a left wrist injury. “I have a partial rupture” ligament at the level “left wrist” (triangular carpal ligament), explained the French thirty-something during a press conference. The announcement came to close a dark day for French tennis at Roland-Garros, which saw six players, including Caroline Garcia, the best luck tricolor, being eliminated.
Gaël Monfils, 36, had won an incredible victory in the first round on Tuesday evening after being led 4 games to 0 in the fifth set by the Argentinian Sebastian Baez (42nd), 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, 1-6, 7-5 after 3 h 47 min of combat, past midnight. It was his very first since his return to the circuit after seven months of absence, the fault of a recalcitrant right foot.
“The doctor told me ‘Don’t play'”
“Yesterday (Tuesday during the match, editor’s note), I was in pain, at one point I quickly called the physiotherapist for two seconds, but in the end I had handled myself a little on my own and I said to myself that I didn’t I didn’t necessarily need it. I finished the match with a lot of adrenaline. In the evening, we iced right away, I thought it was going well. This morning (Wednesday), I took a lot of anti-inflammatories, we hit a little bit, I was still in pain, we took care, we hit a bit more this afternoon, I I hit well but I felt that I was still in pain. Finally, with the doctor, he was not sure with the echo, we did an MRI to get to the bottom of it, and he said to me: “Don’t play”»said Monfils.
Gaël Monfils must take additional exams on Thursday to find out more about the duration of his unavailability. But he wanted to be rather optimistic on Wednesday evening. “The doctor told me he was hopeful that I could play on grass”whose season begins in the wake of Roland-Garros, he said. “It’s a few weeks, it’s not hugehe also mentioned. It can be very fast, like longer. If it was a complete rupture, it would be more serious. There, it is only partial.
“How many Roland-Garros do I have left?”
The fact remains that here is again the player with a fragile physique out of the Parisian tournament through injury, he who had already had to forfeit last year because of discomfort in his right heel. And that at his age, the opportunities to tread the beaten earth again at the Porte d’Auteuil will become increasingly rare. “I don’t show it too much but there is more than disappointment, because how many Roland-Garros do I have left?he wondered aloud. This is above all the real question. How many do I have left?” “I just heard the news thirty minutes ago, it’s fresh, for the moment I digest it”he continued.
Almost twenty-four hours earlier, Monfils had described his crazy Parisian night experienced in the first round, finished lying on his back on the clay, shaken by sobs, as “one of the best moments in sport I have experienced.” Already qualified for the third round, Rune, one of the most serious outsiders of the Parisian Grand Slam, will face a player from the qualifications for a place in the round of 16: either the Argentinian Genaro Alberto Olivieri, or the Italian Andrea Vavasori.
