Gaël Monfils will start the year 2023 with a tactical choice. The tennis player announced Saturday in an interview with Canal Plus his package for the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam of the year, from January 16 to 29.
This is a thoughtful choice on the part of the current French N.4 (and 52nd in the world) who wishes to skip the Melbourne tournament in order to benefit from a “protected ranking” next season.
Absent since the Masters 1000 in Montreal
“There is this protected ranking, when you haven’t played for a certain number of months,” he told Canal Plus. “I know that if I take it, I will have to miss the Australian Open in order to complete my six months. It will be my decision”.
The 36-year-old Parisian has been absent from the ATP circuit since the Masters 1000 in Montreal and his retirement in the third round against Briton Jack Draper. The protected classification allows a player absent from the circuit for six months in a row to line up for tournaments when his real classification should not allow it.