"I got screwed, it's not fair" - Berrettini on Wimbledon points stripping
ATP
Matteo Berrettini will experience a drop in the ATP Rankings after there will be no points awarded at this year's Wimbledon Championships, and he was less than thrilled about the situation.
The Italian player is one of the more consistent players on the ATP Tour, which has granted him a spot inside of the Top 10 for three consecutive years since he entered it in 2019.
However, he will now face a situation he didn't have to face before, which will cost him ranking points and his rank as well. Berrettini played in the final of the 2021 Wimbledon Championships, losing to Novak Djokovic in four sets.
This year, he would like to repeat his result, but even if he didn't, he would lose all 1,200 points that he won at the last year's tournament, as this year, Wimbledon won't award players any points.
The ATP and the WTA chose to remove the points from the third Grand Slam of the season after the tournament organizers chose to ban Russian and Belarusian players from competing.
As one of the players who were significantly impacted by this situation, Berrettini was less than thrilled, and he spoke about the situation during his participation at the Stuttgart Open.
The Italian won his first two matches, beating Radu Albot and Lorenzo Sonego, which means that he will play in the semi-finals of the tournament. But when speaking about the upcoming Wimbledon, it was clear he was less than happy.
"I got screwed. It's a tough situation, I have so many points to defend and now I can't defend them. I'm not in the best position, we all fight to get points. I'll have to find another way."
"I will play as many tournaments as possible. It's bad what happened for the Russians and Belarusians, but it's also not fair for the rest of the players."
Although he won't add any points to his name at Wimbledon, Berrettini is doing well in Stuttgart. After beating his friend Sonego in the quarter-finals, he was happy about the win, even though it was his good friend who he beat.
"It was a really tough match. Lorenzo was playing really well. I wasn’t feeling that comfortable but it is normal. I haven’t played for three months and it isn’t easy to come back. The crowd helped me and my team is always here. I am happy with the win."
"It is really nice, we are playing in the best tournaments in the world against each other. We started playing against each other aged 10, so it is really nice to see where we are. He is a really nice guy, we hit a lot together."
In the semi-finals of the tournament, the experienced Italian will play against home player Oscar Otte, who will try to use the home ground to his advantage.
