France will have to take on Croatia in the Davis Cup final in two weeks time without their top ranked star Richard Gasquet.
The world number 26 pulled out of the France pre-final training camp on Monday with an unspecified injury.
“I’m extremely disappointed to announce my absence from the final. I’m fully behind my team to go for a fresh victory,” Gasquet said on Twitter.
Gasquet drops out of an already depleted squad and his versatility as a fine doubles partner will also be missed.
Gasquet was originally called up by former French Open winner and France team captain Yannick Noah, alongside Lucas Pouille, the just back from injury Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Jeremy Chardy, Nicholas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert.
Noah has an array of players to chose from to replace Gasquet with Gilles Simon, Benoît Paire, Adrian Mannarino or Gaël Monfils.
The loss leaves France looking a little stretched with Croatia’s singles players Marin Cilic ranked 7th and Borna Coric 12th in the world.
The Davis Cup final takes place in Lille, France on November 23-25 on clay courts.
Last year, the French beat Belgium in the final but in 2014 they lost to a Swiss team led by Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka.
The meeting with Croatia is a repeat of the football World Cup final in July which France won, 4-2, in Moscow.
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