Matteo Berrettini says he is devastated to retire from his opening match at the ATP Finals and will undergo further medical examinations.
The world No.7 was forced to pull the plug on his match against Alexander Zverev during the early stages of the second set after suffering pain in his abdominal region. Berrettini underwent an on-court medical time out but it wasn’t enough to enable him to continue playing. A bitter pill for the Italian to swallow who was playing in front of his home crowd. This year is the first time in history the ATP Finals are taking place in Italy.
“It was unbelievable, the atmosphere was one of the best that I ever felt in my life and that’s why I probably feel so bad right now,” the 25-year-old said during his press conference. “The thought of not finishing the match, that I wasn’t able to finish the match is killing me.’
“I really hope it’s nothing bad, but today I couldn’t play, I couldn’t finish it (the match) and I really wanted to. I really wanted to enjoy every second, that’s what we said at the beginning with my team and the worst thing that could happen, happened.”
The injury issue is related to Berrettini’s abdominal region which sends alarm bells to his camp. Earlier this year during the Australian Open he suffered an abdominal strain during his match against Karen Khachanov. Subsequently, he missed two months of the tour due to the issue.
Heading into the clash there were no warning signs of an injury looming. In fact, during a highly competitive 79-minute opening set against Zverev, Berrettini was playing at an even pace with his opponent and didn’t show any signs of discomfort.
“I didn’t feel anything and then I felt it just like in that serve in the last game,” he explained. “It’s something that it’s mentally really tough for me because I use to have an injury close to the same area, so it’s really tough for me to go and play over it.’
“I don’t know what it (the injury) is. So first I have to figure out what it is and then mentally if I see that it’s nothing really big, then maybe I can play.’
“It’s probably the worst day that I had on a tennis court in my life.”
Speaking to the Italian press, the Wimbledon-finalist stated that he has no intention of continuing playing in the ATP Finals if he believes there was no chance in winning matches. He is set to undergo scans on Monday which will influence his decision on what he plans to do next.
“Hopefully with my team and with the doctors I’m going to do some checks and I really hope it’s not going to be something that is going to make me not play the next two matches.” He concluded.
