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Former world No. 6 Gael Monfils and world No. 17 Cristian Garin have both withdrawn from the Stockholm Open. Monfils, now ranked at No. 21 in the world, had been expected to make his fourth Stockholm appearance this year. Monfils had an impressive debut in Stockholm in 2011, having won the title.
In 2012, Monfils returned to Stockholm as the defending champion but suffered a shock loss to Patrik Rosenholm in his opener at the tournament. Four years later, Monfils returned to Stockholm and picked up a surprise loss to Gastao Elias in his Stockholm opener.
On the other side, Garin had been expected to make his Stockholm debut this year.
Monfils snubbed out of the Davis Cup selection
Monfils is currently the top-ranked French tennis player but French Davis Cup team captain Sebastian Grosjean decided to snub the former world No.
6 out of the selection for the Davis Cup Finals. “Gael understands my choice to mix youth and experience.(...) I do not rule out making changes the team before the start, as the regulations allow, especially if Gael does great at Bercy," Grosjean said, per Tennis Magazine.
Monfils won two titles early in 2020 but then the Tour got suspended due to the pandemic. "I like to feel the energy of the crowd and that is why it was difficult to play in empty stadiums," Monfils said. "COVID-19 broke the momentum I was having.
I couldn't handle it. I was playing my best tennis and i almost reached the best ranking position of my career, but the Tour suspension ruined everything and then I it took a year and a half to regain momentum." Recently, Monfils acknowledged he is focused on his tennis career but he is also interested in some non-tennis related stuff.
"Discipline is extremely important to me. I know that I have my six or seven hours of daily training and based on that I organize my life. My parents always taught me to pursue my passion, but also to let go. People see me as a man who puts on a show, but they forget that behind I am a human being with emotions and with a family," Monfils noted.