GAEL MONFILS WITHDRAWS FROM LAST WORLD TOUR FINALS MATCH, NOVAK DJOKOVIC TO FACE GOFFIN ON THURSDAY

Written by: Staff on 16th November 2016

GAEL MONFILS WITHDRAWS FROM LAST WORLD TOUR FINALS MATCH, NOVAK DJOKOVIC TO FACE GOFFIN ON THURSDAY

epa05632615 Gael Monfils of France reacts during a break of his men's singles match against Dominic Thiem of Austria at the ATP World Tour Finals tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London, Britain, 15 November 2016. EPA/FACUNDO ARRIZABALAGA |

By Ricky Dimon

Novak Djokovic has new opponent at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals on Thursday afternoon.

It will be first alternate David Goffin, who now has a place on the match court following Gael Monfils’ withdrawal on Wednesday evening. Monfils had missed the BNP Paribas Masters two weeks ago because of a rib injury and he looked far less than 100 percent during a three-set loss to Dominic Thiem on Tuesday.

“Definitely I can’t play tomorrow because I still feel worse and worse,” the sixth-ranked Frenchman indicated. “I feel that even yesterday (it) was tough [against Thiem]. I [wasn’t] feeling great and couldn’t practice, so I just decided that I couldn’t play tomorrow.”

Monfils ends his season with a 44-17 record that includes the biggest title of his career in Washington, D.C. This was his debut appearance in the year-end championship.

“I’m very happy to be here in the top eight,” he assured. “I think it’s the greatest season I ever done. It gives me more hope for next year. I think for the new season I will have new changes and hopefully I can be even stronger next year.”

Monfils’ exit means Goffin’s 2016 campaign has not ended. Thanks in part to back-to-back semifinal showings in Indian Wells and Miami to go with a quarterfinal run at Roland Garros, the Belgian put himself in top-eight contention all the way until the Paris Masters. His qualifying hopes ended with a third-round loss to fellow contender Marin Cilic, who eventually qualified as the No. 7 seed for London.

Goffin is 0-4 lifetime against Djokovic, including 0-3 on hard courts. But the world No. 11 has not been without chances. He led Djokovic 3-0 with a double-break in the final set of their 2015 Cincinnati Masters meeting only to lose the last six games of the match and watch Djokovic prevail 6-4, 2-6, 6-3. They most recently faced each other earlier this year in Miami, where the Serb got the job done 7-6(5), 6-4.

Djokovic has already clinched the top semifinal spot out of Group B at the O2 Arena following victories over Dominic Thiem and Milos Raonic. Thiem will battle Raonic on Thursday night for the other place in the semis.

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand.

Novak Djokovic of Serbia returns the ball against Milos Raonic of Canada during their men’s singles match at the ATP World Tour finals tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London, Britain, 15 November 2016. EPA/FACUNDO ARRIZABALAGA

Topics: 02 Arena, 10sballs.com, ATP Finals, David Goffin, Gael Monfils, London, Novak Djokovic, Ricky Dimon, Tennis, World Tour Finals

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