08 July,2009 01:09 PM IST | | AFP
French tennis player Mathieu Montcourt was found dead in front of the door to his ground floor apartment in the Paris suburb of Boulogne-Billancourt yesterday, police said.
The body of the 24-year-old sportsman, currently 119th in the ATP rankings, was found by his girlfriend who then alerted the police.
An autopsy into the causes of death was to be carried out on Wednesday but police said there were no indications that Montcourt had been attacked.
French tennis circles were dumbfounded by the news.
"The French Tennis Federation (FFT) is literally in shock on learning of the death of Mathieu Montcourt," a Federation statement said.
"His sudden loss plunges the whole tennis family into immense sadness," the statement added.
FFT technical director Patrice Dominguez said: "Mathieu was a young and promising talent who was really on the way up. "He was a hard-working, serious and clean-living lad. We are devastated and our first thoughts are with his family."
Former World No 1 Rafael Nadal was left stunned by the news - he and Montcourt had been on the junior circuit before moving up to the seniors.
"This morning, I woke up to the worst possible news," commented the Spaniard on his website.
"I learnt of the death of our friend Mathieu Montcourt.
"I am still in shock, I just cannot believe it.
"We played against each other in all the youth tournaments.
"When such an event as this happens, when such a young sportsman dies, it puts into perspective whether one wins or loses a match, or to play in an important tournament.
"Here one is dealing with the death of a player at the age of 24 who will never play with us again."
A tennis professional since 2002, Montcourt reached a career best world ranking of 104th in June after qualifying for the main draw at the French Open and reaching the second round where he lost in four sets to Radek Stepanek.
His last tournament was in the Croatian town of Rijeka late June where he reached the semifinal of a Challenger Tour event.
His career was badly hit in August last year when he was banned for eight weeks and fined $12,000 for betting on the Internet on the outcome of tennis matches.
Montcourt appealed against the ban and the Lausanne-based Court of Arbritation for Sports reduced the sanction by two weeks citing the small sums of money involved - $192 on 36 games - and the fact that he did not bet on games in which he was playing.
