Gael Monfils Retires at Miami Open With An Injury

Gael Monfils didn’t even play one set at the Miami Open this year. He retired from his match against compatriot Ugo Humbert after only six games.

It’s been a tough year for Monfils so far, as this was only the third match he played this year, and he didn’t even complete it. Monfils is one of those players who have struggled with injuries for the vast majority of their careers.

He’s overcome some rather nasty injuries and is still kicking around at his age, which is not a minor achievement. However, it hasn’t looked pretty for him so far this year, with his first match in Indian Wells being a 3-6, 1-6 loss to Jordan Thompson.

He then went to Phoenix to play at the ATP Challenger event there and lost to Alexander Shevchenko in three sets. Then it was time for the Miami Open, but it ended up being the worst tournament out of all of them for Monfils, as he was forced to retire.

Monfils had heel surgery last year, which forced him to miss about seven months of action. It was only recently in Indian Wells that he returned to competing, but it wasn’t meant to be as he was pushing through some serious pain.

After playing six games, Monfils retired at 3-3 in the opening set. It’s a very unfortunate development for Monfils, who is trying to finish off his career on a high note, but injury problems keep happening to him.

Hopefully, the very resilient Monfils will get back stronger after this setback. He seemed to be very positive before returning to the tennis courts. Humbert, on the other hand, will now face 29th seed Miomir Kecmanovic in the next round of the 2023 Miami Open.