Former world No.6 Gael Monfils is disqualified from Ultimate Tennis Showdown competition over a 'playful' changing room incident that left a tournament supervisor injured

The Frenchman was disqualified from the UTC event taking place in OsloGabriel Monfils was involved in an incident that left a supervisor with an injuryTournament officials later said there was 'no malice' intended by Monfils 

A bizarre incident inside the locker room of the Ultimate Tennis Showdown (UTS) in Oslo on Friday led to former men’s world No.6 Gael Monfils because disqualified.

Monfils was set to take to the court in the Norwegian capital to face Benoit Paire but was pulled out of playing by tournament officials after an injury to a supervisor.

The creative tennis format that is billed as a a multi-tournament league featuring the world’s top players started four-years ago during the Covid-19 pandemic and has grown since.

Monfils was in the changing room with tournament supervisor Stephane Apostolou and a ‘playful incident’ resulted in the men’s tennis star being disqualified from playing any further part.

Supporters in Oslo were left confused given that one of the format’s selling points is that technically doesn’t enforce a code of conduct and a statement was later released explaining the situation in more detail.

Former world No.6 Gabriel Monfils was disqualified from an Ultimate Tennis Showdown event in Oslo

Monfils was involved in a ‘playful incident’ in the changing room that left a tournament supervisor injured

‘Yesterday [Friday] 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 revealed in a statement.

‘UTS is 100 percent 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. See you next time Gael.’

Monfils was disqualified from the event in Oslo but has been invited back to compete in the tournament

Lucas Pouille replaced Monfils following the conduct violation and produced a strong showing before being beaten on sudden death 2-1 in the evening’s final game.

Monfils is yet to respond to the statement or post on social media since his disqualification from the event at the time of publication.

The 37-year-old turned professional in 2004 and is currently ranked 70th on the ATP world tour having earned £106,000 in prize money for the year to date.

He won the men’s ATP singles Stockholm title last year and is regarded as one of the best player’s to still have never won a grand slam.