GAEL MONFILS has been bizarrely disqualified from a tournament due to an incident with an official.
The Frenchman was playing in this weekend’s Ultimate Tennis Showdown in Oslo.
GettyGael Monfils has been bizarrely disqualified from the UTS tournament[/caption]
Monfils, 37, played one match, losing to Alex de Minaur, prior to being booted out the event in unusual fashion.
The former world No6 hurt a tournament chief by accident and was sent home.
A statement from the UTS explained: “Yesterday a playful exchange in the locker room between Gael Monfils and the tournament supervisor Stephane Apostolou resulted in a minor injury to the supervisor.
“UTS is 100 per cent satisfied that there was no malice intended from Gael but because there was an injury sustained by an official, however minor, we felt there was no alternative but to disqualify Gael.
“Gael accepted the disqualification and he and the supervisor parted on friendly terms.”
Monfils is a fans’ favourite on tour and has made two Grand Slam semi-finals in his career.
He has been replaced in the draw by compatriot Lucas Pouille.
UTS is an exhibition event that has several different rules to make tennis more “fast and furious”.
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Matches are played in four timed quarters, there are no second serves, “bonus cards” can lead to points being worth double and players conduct interviews during change overs.
Top 20 players Andrey Rublev, De Minaur and Casper Ruud are all involved in the tournament.