Gael Monfils withdraws ahead of round two with wrist injury

PARIS: Gael Monfils withdraws from French Open with a wrist injury, calling his first-round triumph his top win at Roland-Garros.

The announcement came less than 24 hours after the Frenchman produced a magical late-night performance on Court Philippe-Chatrier in the first round against Sebastian Baez.

While he had recovered well from the physical effort of Tuesday’s extraordinary three-hour 47-minute first-round rollercoaster, the flare-up of an injury to his left wrist has left him unable to continue.

Monfils was scheduled to play sixth seed Holger Rune on Thursday evening for a place in the third round.

“Physically, I’m quite fine,” he said on Wednesday night. “I was quite happy this morning. I woke up quite good. But I had a problem with my wrist that I cannot solve.

“The doctor says it was not good to play with that type of injury. Yesterday was actually very risky, and then today definitely (he) says I should stop.”

The injury is to the TFCC of his left wrist. Monfils is unsure exactly how long he will be out but is hopeful of returning for the grass-court season.

“I think had it been totally broken it would have been more serious, but it’s partial. So I’ll know more about the length of time when I’m off the courts. But the doctor said he hopes I’ll be able to play on grass,” Monfils said.