Mardy Fish out as U.S. Davis Cup captain before next matches

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Anthony Gruppuso/USA TODAY Sports
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The USTA announced the change as part of a news release that began by listing the members of the American roster for a qualifying matchup at Uzbekistan on Feb. 3-4. Those players are doubles specialist Rajeev Ram, Tommy Paul, Jenson Brooksby, Mackenzie McDonald and Austin Krajicek.

Ram was notably left off the squad by Fish for the Davis Cup Finals in November. That was shortly after the 38-year-old Ram reached the No. 1 ranking in men’s doubles for the first time on the heels of winning a second consecutive U.S. Open doubles championship for his third Grand Slam trophy overall.

Fish, a former professional player who had been the U.S. captain since 2019, and Davis Cup coach Bob Bryan were fined $10,000 apiece in November by the International Tennis Integrity Agency for promoting a gambling operator via social media.

Fish and Bryan also were given four-month bans that were provisionally set aside and would be enforced only if there was another breach of rules during a probationary period that ends in March.

The United States reached the Davis Cup quarterfinals in 2022, losing to Italy at that stage. The Americans have won a record 32 titles in the international team competition for men, most recently in 2007.

The USTA said Friday that an interim captain for the matches against Uzbekistan would be picked “in the near future,” while information about the search for someone to fill the position on a full-time basis will come “at a later date.”

A USTA spokesman referred to Friday’s release and declined to comment further. Fish did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Fish won six titles in singles and eight in doubles as a player, earned a silver medal for the United States at the 2004 Athens Olympics in singles and competed in the Davis Cup from 2002-12. He made it to the quarterfinals at three Grand Slam tournaments and reached a career-best ranking of No. 7. He retired from the tennis tour in 2015.

Gael Monfils withdraws from French Open with wrist injury

Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports
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PARIS — A thrilling five-set victory took a toll on Gael Monfils, whose withdrawal from the French Open handed No. 6 Holger Rune a walkover to the third round.

The 36-year-old Frenchman said he has a strained left wrist and can’t continue.

He battled Sebastian Baez for nearly four hours on Court Philippe Chatrier before beating the Argentine 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, 1-6, 7-5 in a first-round match that ended at 12:18 a.m. local time.

The victory was Monfils’ first at tour level this year, as the veteran was coming back from heel surgery.

“Actually, physically, I’m quite fine. But I had the problem with my wrist that I cannot solve,” he said. “The doctor say was not good to play with that type of injury. Yesterday was actually very risky, and then today definitely say I should stop.”

Monfils reached the semifinals at the French Open in 2008 and made it to the quarterfinals on three other occasions.

Mikael Ymer fined about $40K after default for hitting umpire stand with racket

Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
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PARIS — Swedish tennis player Mikael Ymer was docked about $40,000 after being disqualified for smashing his racket against the umpire’s chair at a tournament the week before he competed at the French Open.

An ATP Tour spokesman said Ymer forfeited about $10,500 in prize money and 20 rankings he earned for reaching the second round of the Lyon Open. Ymer also was handed an on-site fine of about $29,000.

The spokesman said the ATP Fines Committee will conduct a review of what happened to determine whether any additional penalties are warranted.

The 56th-ranked Ymer, who is 24 and owns a victory over current No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz, was defaulted in Lyon for an outburst late in the first set against French teenager Arthur Fils last week.

Ymer was upset that the chair umpire would not check a ball mark after a shot by Fils landed near a line. As the players went to the sideline for the ensuing changeover, Ymer smacked the base of the umpire’s stand with his racket twice – destroying his equipment and damaging the chair.

That led to Ymer’s disqualification, making Fils the winner of the match.

After his 7-5, 6-2, 6-4 loss to 17th-seeded Lorenzo Musetti in the first round at Roland Garros, Ymer was asked whether he wanted to explain why he reacted the way he did in Lyon.

“With all due respect, I think it’s pretty clear from the video what caused it and why I reacted the way I reacted. Not justifying it at all, of course,” Ymer replied. “But for me to sit here and to explain? I think it’s pretty clear what led me to that place. I think that’s pretty clear in the video.”