Why Gael Monfils was disqualified from the Ultimate Tennis Showdown in Oslo
French star Gael Monfils was disqualified from the Ultimate Tennis Showdown in Oslo after what has been termed a ‘playful exchange’ with a supervisor that led to an injury for the official.
Monfils was replaced by Lucas Pouille following “a code of conduct violation” resulting from his behaviour towards the tournament supervisor.
Pouille took on compatriot Benoit Paire in the match much to the confusion of the crowd.
The decision has raised a few eyebrows with Monfils a very popular figure on tour and with fans.
“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 revealed in a statement on Saturday.
Monfils or “La Monf” as he is announced at the exhibition series noted for odd nicknames and eccentric rule changes—is a favourite UTS character, owing to his reputation as a human highlight reel with his sizzling shots and trademark theatrics.
To make the order of events clear, the organisers issued a statement on Saturday.
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The statement made it apparent that there was “no malice” in Monfils’ behaviour and invited the Frenchman to return to future UTS events, even if it did not disclose the specifics of what transpired between Monfils and supervisor Apostolou.
“UTS is 100 per cent satisfied that there was no malice intended from Gael but because there was an injury sustained by an official, however minor, we felt there was no alternative but to disqualify Gael,” the statement read.
“Gael accepted the disqualification and he and the supervisor parted on friendly terms. See you next time Gael.”
The well-known exhibition series has seen its fair share of dubious player conduct in the past. Andrey Rublev and the chair umpire got into a furious on-court altercation at the Grand Final in London last year due to a mix-up with his bonus points card.
The Russian ended up scaling the chair to express his point even more aggressively and at eye level with the officIAL.
Rublev was not disqualified for the incident because UTS does not enforce a code of conduct, which is one of the primary selling points for the tournament that attempts to make tennis more accessible to spectators.
However, enough criticism was voiced about it to lead to another modification to the UTS rules: teams are no longer need to approach the umpire in order to activate their bonus cards; instead, they only need to press a button.
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