Monfils feels for Thierry Henry

NEW DELHI: Gael Monfils, the French tennis star, feels for retiring Les Bleus hero Thierry Henry over the treatment currently being meted out to him in his home country.
"It makes me very sad to see this happening to him," said Monfils at the IPTL curtain-raiser here.
Henry, 37, is in the midst of a media storm in France whether or not to honour him with a farewell international game, proposed to be played against Brazil in March next year.
His former teammates strongly feel that Henry, a legend at Arsenal, is not accorded the honour he deserves in France an issue that the outspoken Emmanuel Petit and normally reticent Zinedine Zidane too have commented on.
While the question of Henry ­ of Antillean heritage ­ raises the obvious questions of inclusion and multiculturalism within France, this time it touches upon the case of coloured sportsmen too. Monfils pointed out here that he too belonged to the same ethnic background, so he felt much closer to Henry's issue.
"We belong to the same ethnicity ­ Gaudelope and Martinique. He was my idol when I was growing up," Monfils said. "Henry has been an absolute hero for France, he has done so much. That it should be up for debate is saddening."
Monfils also admitted that he had a hard time putting behind him the disappointment of not playing the final rubber in the Davis Cup final, after a spell of inspiration from Roger Federer as the Swiss killed it off early. "It wasn't easy to put behind," Monfils revealed.