"I think there's more to this story, it all seems a bit odd" - Tennis fans skeptical over 'fishy' reason for Gael Monfils' disqualification from UTS
Tennis fans recently voiced their skepticism regarding the reasons provided for Gael Monfils' disqualification from the Ultimate Tennis Showdown (UTS) in Oslo.
UTS, an international individual tennis league, was founded by Serena Williams' former coach, Patrick Mouratoglou and father of Australian tennis player Alexei Popyrin, Alex.
The Oslo leg of UTS features a lineup of top players, including Casper Ruud, Alexander Bublik, Holger Rune, Dominic Thiem, and Nicolai Budkov Kjaer in Group A. Group B featured players such as Andrey Rublev, Alex de Minaur, Benoit Paire, Lucas Pouille, and Gael Monfils.
On February 9, during his first round-robin match, Monfils suffered a defeat at the hands of De Minaur, with a score of 12-15, 8-17, 9-16. The French tennis player was then scheduled to face his compatriot Benoit Paire in the next round.
However, just moments before the match, it was announced that Gael Monfils had been disqualified from the competition, with another French tennis player, Lucas Pouille making his debut as the 37-year old's replacement.
The official UTS pages later disclosed the reason behind Monfils' disqualification. It was revealed that a "playful exchange" between him and the tournament supervisor, Stephane Apostolou, in the locker room, resulted in a minor injury to the supervisor.
"Yesterday a playful exchange in the locker room between Gael Monfils and the tournament supervisor Stephane Apostolou resulted in a minor injury to the supervisor. UTS is 100% satisfied that there was no malice intended from Gael," the statemant read.
The organizers justified their decision by emphasizing that, regardless of the injury being "minor", they had "no alternative" but to disqualify the former World No. 6
"Because there was an injury sustained by an official, however minor, we felt there was no alternative but to disqualify Gael," they added. "Gael accepted the disqualification and he and the supervisor parted on friendly terms."
Tennis fans were left perplexed by the justifications offered by the UTS regarding the disqualification of Gale Monfils. In response, they turned to social media to voice their skepticism.
One fan expressed their belief that there might be more to the story, as the explanation seemed "a bit odd" and was rather unclear.
"I think there's more to this story. It all seems a bit odd," a fan posted on X (formerly Twitter).
Another fan stated that the ambiguous explanation provided by the UTS for the disqualification "just raises more questions."
"...What? This is a clarification that just raises more questions," the fan posted.
Here are a few more reactions from tennis fans:
Gael Monfils on his UTS disqualification: "This was an accident and nothing more"
Gael Monfils also took to social media to offer an explanation regarding his disqualification from the Oslo leg of the Ultimate Tennis Showdown. He emphasized that, according to the official statement from UTS, there was no "malice", "negativity", "abuse" or "violence" on his part.
"I want to tell everyone what happened at UTS in Oslo. As per the release from UTS directly, there was no malice or negativity on my part. No abuse, no violence," Gael Monfils wrote.
The Frenchman clarified that he never intended to harm or cause any injury to Stephane Apostolou, emphasizing that the incident was simply an unfortunate accident.
"However, whilst joking around in the locker room, Stephane was unfortunately hurt. It was never my intention to hurt or cause harm and thankfully Stephane knows that. People who know me, know this is not in my nature. Stephane and I have shook hands and move on," he added.
The disqualification makes this look like there was an issue or altercation backstage but really there wasn’t, this was an accident and nothing more.