Berrettini booed off the court as he's forced to retire with an injury
ATP
Matteo Berrettini had a very unpleasant ending to the 2023 Mexican Open after he had to retire against Holger Rune.
Berrettini entered the ATP 500 tournament in Acapulco in search of some form and valuable ranking points after not having played since his first-round loss to Andy Murray at the Australian Open.
That plan was going really well for Berrettini. In the first round of the tournament, he played against Alex Molcan. The Italian player won the opening set of the match 6-0 while hitting five aces and winning 13 out of 14 points on his serve.
At the start of the second set, however, his opponent retired down 0-6, 0-1. In the second set, Berrettini bested Mikael Ymer 6-3, 6-3, to set up a quarter-final meeting with Holger Rune.
The young Danish player had a perfect start to their match, winning the first seven rallies. He then broke Berrettini's serve and held his own to lead 3-0 in no time.
Rune then broke his opponent's serve again, and again held without too many issues, leading 5-0. That's when it started becoming obvious that Berrettini might be struggling with his calf, as he didn't even chase some of the balls.
He even requested for a physio. But since the match was suspended because of a rain delay, fans in the stadium might not have been aware that the Italian player was seen by a physio.
When they returned to the court, Rune continued dominating, and he led 6-0 and 1-0, winning 28 out of 35 points played in this quarter-final match.
That's when Berrettini decided to retire from the match. Unfortunately, fans in Acapulco were likely not aware of his physical issues. On top of that, after waiting through a rain delay, they likely wanted to see some action on the court.
That's why they have decided to boo the Italian player, who was certainly disappointed about having to retire. Rune, on the other hand, advanced to the semi-finals of the tournament.
