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Gael Monfils has attributed his early exit from the Montpellier Open to fatigue following his Australian Open exploits last month.
The Frenchman entered the Open Sud de France as the third seed and was among the favorites to win it. He received a bye to the second round but was comprehensively defeated 6-1, 6-2 by Sweden's Mikael Ymer.
Following his defeat, the 35-year-old tweeted that he was exhausted from his trip Down Under and the COVID-19 booster shot he took a few days back did not help the matter.
"I was not good tonight," wrote Monfils. "I don't want to tweet only the victories and the positive side. I played badly and it would be too easy to say that I should have done like this or like that."
"I know that many of you were expecting me at the best level for my first tournament of the year in France and I am the first disappointed. I thought I had recovered enough from the Australian Open and arrive ready for Montpellier but unfortunately it didn't. I'm still tired from this trip and the booster shot a few days ago didn't help," he added.
The Frenchman also wrote that he is now looking forward to recovering and being well prepared for the next tournament.
"The season has only just begun. There will be great matches, rotten matches, disappointments and victories. But that's also tennis. We win together but we also lose together. Now it's time to recover well and prepare for the next tournament. Thank you for the support ," the World No. 16 wrote.
Gael Monfils has won eight out of 11 matches in 2022
Gael Monfils made a winning start to 2022, winning the Adelaide International 1 title by defeating Karen Khachanov in the final. After retiring in his second-round match against Thiago Monteiro at the Adelaide International 2, the Frenchman next competed at the Australian Open.
Monfils produced some dominant performances against Federico Coria, Alexander Bublik, Cristian Garin and Miomir Kecmanovic to reach his second Australian Open quarterfinal without dropping a single set. In the semifinal, the Frenchman pushed Matteo Berrettini to five sets but lost the match.
His performance in Melbourne saw the Frenchman's ranking rise to No. 16 in the world.
