Monfils to debut at World Tour Finals

Gael Monfils will make his debut at the ATP World Tour Finals after becoming the sixth player to qualify for the prestigious season-ending tournament, to be held from 13-20 November at The O2 in London.

The Frenchman joins Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Stan Wawrinka, Milos Raonic and Kei Nishikori in the elite field, securing his berth following Dominic Thiem’s loss today at the Erste Bank Open 500 in Vienna.

Thiem is looking to join Monfils as a debutant at the season finale and currently sits in the eighth position in the ATP Race To London.

“It feels great to qualify for the (Barclays) ATP (World Tour) Finals for the first time in my career,” said Monfils.

“It is a great way to finish my best season on the tour and I look forward to competing against the other best players of 2016. I heard a lot of great things about the event, every match is like a final and I always love to play on a big stage.”

It has been a career-best season for the 30-year-old Monfils, beginning with a quarterfinal showing at the Australian Open and a final in Rotterdam the following month. Back-to-back quarterfinals at Indian Wells and Miami preceded a run to the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters final.

Injury forced Monfils to miss Roland Garros, but the right-hander returned to top form over the summer, winning the biggest title of his career at the Citi Open in Washington before reaching the semifinals at the Rogers Cup in Toronto and the US Open, where both times falling to Djokovic.

Just last week, Monfils equalled his career-best ranking of No.7, which he first set back in July 2011.