Gael Monfils addressed the shocking news about his disqualification from the 2024 Ultimate Tennis Showdown (UTS) in Oslo.
During the first day of play in the Norwegian city, the shocking news came from the tournament organizers, that Monfils was disqualified from the tournament because of "inappropriate behaviour towards the tournament supervisor."
At the time, not a lot was known about what really happened, and the announcement surprised many fans, giving the somewhat more free nature of the event that regular ATP tournaments.
Not long after that, tournament organizers released a statement, saying that Monfils injured the supervisor during a "playful exchange" in the locker room.
One of the main points of the UTS' statement was the fact that there was no intention do injure Stephane Apostolou, and Monfils confirmed these claims in his own statement.
"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."
The Frenchman then shed some more light on what really happened, saying the incident occurred while they were "joking around" in the locker room. Confirming the UTS' statement, the two have shook hands and accepted what happened without any major problems.
"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."
One thing that many immediately considered was the fact that the incident must have been of a serious nature, considering the Frenchman's disqualification. According to Monfils, it wasn't, calling it only "an incident and nothing else."
"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."
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