Gael Monfils brought some fire to the Ultimate Tennis Showdown tournament in Los Angeles as he leapt towards the crowd while facing Frances Tiafoe. The Frenchman appeared to be put off by some jeering as commentators said he tried to taunt someone sitting in the front row. After the commentators compared the move to UFC, Monfils later went to shake hands with the spectator in question.
Monfils was back in action at the fifth edition of UTS, an exhibition tournament that has rules completely different to regular events – including splitting matches up into timed quarters with the winner being the player who earns the most points in that time. The 36-year-old hadn’t played since pulling out of the French Open with a wrist injury but managed to make it into the semi-final of UTS.
During the group stage, he took on world No 10 Tiafoe in front of an American crowd and found himself being jeered during the fourth quarter, having won two of the first three. In response, the Frenchman turned around and jumped onto the stands to come face-to-face with the spectator in question, staring at him before jumping back down.
“I’m not sure what that was,” one commentator said, adding: “La Monf showed us his hops here. What was going on there?” The second pundit replied: “He was taunting somebody in the first row.”
Monfils went on to win 13-12 13-11 7-15 10-9 and shook the umpire’s hand at the end of the match – something that also surprised the commentators after the fiery moment earlier on. “And the chair umpire gets a shake of the hand. Wasn’t expecting to see that,” the main commentator said.
Another added: “I also didn’t expect a physical altercation with the audience which took it to a whole other level. That’s more like UFC. It certainly set a precedent. It’s going to be curious how other players are going to react.”
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