Italian star forced out of Melbourne due to right foot injury.
By Erik Gudris | @atntennis | Sunday, January 14, 2024
It’s a New Year, but unfortunately it’s the same old story for Matteo Berrettini.
The 2021 Wimbledon finalist and former top 10 player withdrew from the Australian Open with a right foot injury before his anticipated opening round match against No. 7 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas.
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Tsitsipas, who was last year’s men’s singles finalist, will now face lucky loser Zizou Bergs on Monday.
For Berrettini, the injury add to his list of physical woes suffered last year that impacted his participation at the majors.
In 2023, Berrettini missed Roland Garros due to an abdominal injury, though he was able to recover later to reach the fourth round at Wimbledon.
Then, at the US Open, Berrettini suffered a right ankle injury during the second set of his second match against Arthur Rinderknech that eventually forced the Italian to retire from that match.
Berrettini did not play any ATP matches after New York and ended cheering from the sidelines later in the year when Italy claimed the Davis Cup title.
“Despite training at a high level for a few weeks my medical team has advised it would be a risk to compete in the final tournaments of the ATP season,” Berrettini posted on Instagram back in October.
“It has been very difficult to accept this but I need to do what is best for next season and my long term career. I will take this opportunity to reset, re-build and start the year fully fit and healthy,” he added.
The 27-year-old Berrettini is now currently ranked World No. 125.
Photo credit: Robert Prange/Getty
