France captain Sebastian Grosjean comments on Gael Monfils' Davis Cup absence

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France Davis Cup team captain Sebastian Grosjean said Gael Monfils wanted to play the Davis Cup but a health issue prevented him from competing against Ecuador. For the first time in a very long time, neither of the "French four musketeers" was present as Monfils, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Richard Gasquet and Gilles Simon all missed the Ecuador tie.

However, France had no problems beating Ecuador as they claimed a convincing 4-0 win to seal a Davis Cup Finals ticket. Arthur Rinderknech, Adrian Mannarino and Benjamin Bonzi all claimed wins in singles, while Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut delivered in the doubles rubber.

“Monfils unfortunately fell ill. He had signed up and he wanted to play. There are still six months until the next matches and there will be three Grand Slams so we will have to follow the results of all the players and take the fittest.

They gave a lot to the French team, it is perhaps the end of a very fine generation. Some have been injured, the ranking is falling, but these are players who can always contribute to French tennis," Grosjean said, per We Love Tennis.

Monfils denied pushing an anti-vax propaganda

Last week, Monfils announced he would be skipping the Davis Cup due to a small health problems following his third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. "Hello everyone, I wanted to give you some news following my recent rest in tournaments," Monfils wrote on social media.

"I suffered a small health problem (probably following my third dose of vaccine). "On the advice of my doctor, I decided to take time to rest. "Unfortunately, I won't be able to play the Davis Cup next week. "I hope to be able to return to the United States." Around 12 hours later, Monfils took to Twitter again to underline that his goal wasn't to push an anti-vax propaganda.

"My goal was simply to be transparent with you and not to push anti vax propaganda," Monfils wrote around 12 hours later. "Let's stop appropriating everyone's words for political purposes or simply to serve your convictions. I don't regret getting vaccinated at all."