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.