David Goffin, Lucas Pouille join Alexander Zverev as Montpellier wildcard recipients

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Former world No. 7 David Goffin and France's Lucas Pouille have been awarded wildcards into Montpellier. Goffin, now ranked at No. 45 in the world, is set to make his fifth main draw appearance in Montpellier. Goffin failed to make the main draw in Montpellier in 2010 and 2012 as in those years he was beaten in the qualifying event.

Goffin debuted at the Montpellier event in 2018, when he made the semifinal before losing to Richard Gasquet. Goffin also made the Montpellier semiifnal in 2020, before winning his first Montpellier title last year. Goffin has had success in Montpellier throughout his career and he is certainly hoping to have another good run at the tournament.

On the other side, Pouille is set to make his sixth Montpellier appearance. Like Goffin, Pouille has also enjoyed success in Montpellier, having won the tournament in 2018. On Thursday, it was announced that world No. 3 Alexander Zverev was handed a Montpellier wildcard.

Goffin has had a rough start to the year

Goffin, who put an end to his 2021 season after the US Open, returned to action at the Melbourne Summer Set -- where he suffered a first round defeat. Goffin then appeared in Sydney, where he made the quarterfinal before retiring mid-match to Andy Murray.

“I started to feel something in my knee at the end of the match against Kudla, in the round of 16. I was scared today because my knee has been in pain for a long time and I was scared to put the full pressure on my knee.

If you're worried, there's no point in continuing and that's why I retired. For now, I'm not worried about the Australian Open. We will work on it, I still have a few days to prepare," Goffin said after the match. Goffin gave a shot to the Australian Open but it didn't go well as he was handed a 6-4 6-3 6-0 loss by Dan Evans in the first round. It remains to be seen if Goffin can defend his Montpellier title.