Hope you didn’t buy tickets for the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships to watch Gael Monfils, who is prominently featured in advertising for the tournament.
For the second year in a row Monfils, the flamboyant French tennis star with dreadlocks and sleeveless shirts, has dropped out due to an injury. What a headache it must be for tournament director Peter Lebedevs, with the qualifying rounds starting tomorrow and Monfils scheduled to play next Tuesday.
The good news is that American hottie Ryan Harrison now gets a pass into the main draw. Harrison won a Davis Cup match against Switzerland last week and is a rising star who grew up in Louisiana.
The reason given for Monfils’ withdrawal was an injury to his right knee. His feature match on Tuesday, February 21 at 7 p.m. will now be replaced by American John Isner’s first-round match.
Additionally, Croatian Marin Cilic has been forced to withdraw with a “knee injury.” He’s a highly ranked player but not as well known as Monfils and not part of the pre-tournament publicity. Also withdrawing is Australian Lleyton Hewitt, winner of the U.S. Open in 2001 and Wimbledon in 2002.
Andy Roddick, who is recovering from a hamstring injury, is still coming as of today. If you’re a tennis fan, cross your fingers. Roddick is playing in a tournament in San Jose this week and won his match yesterday in three sets to reach the quarterfinals despite rolling a heavily taped ankle. He had not played since quitting his second-round match at last month’s Australian Open.
