Matteo Berrettini is living through a nightmare as he was forced to withdraw from the 2023 Munich Open.
If you asked tennis fans who has been the unluckiest player on the ATP Tour over the past year, many of the answers would surely be Matteo Berrettini. The 27-year-old reached his peak as the world no. 6 in 2021 after he played his first Grand Slam final against Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon.
The Italian then also reached the quarterfinals at the US Open, before taking part in his first-ever ATP Finals. But his campaign in front of the home crowd in Turin didn't last long as he was forced to retire in his first match against Alexander Zverev. Italian fans were surely delighted that he was at least replaced by another home player, Jannik Sinner, but due to play one less match, he had no chance to advance.
But Berrettini wasn't saddened by his disappointing end of the season. He reached the 2022 Australian Open semifinals, where he was stopped only by the eventual champion Rafael Nadal. But then, everything started going down the hill for the Italian.
He retired due to an injury in Acapulco and later he was forced to pull out of the second Grand Slam of the season, the Roland Garros. Berrettini then returned to grass-court season, winning all of his matches on this surface with titles in Stuttgart and London.
However, he was unable to defend his Wimbledon final due to COVID-19 as he had to withdraw also from the third major of the season. He struggled with injuries also during the remainder of the season, admitting at one point that he was sick of retiring.
In 2023, his struggles continue as he was finally getting back to his top form at the 2023 Monte-Carlo Masters, but yet another injury forced him to withdraw from the third-round match against Holger Rune.
Now, the Italian withdrew also from the upcoming 2023 Munich Open where he wanted to regain some of his confidence back. He'll now hope that he will be ready for the Roland Garros as he has a chance to add many points there due to last year's absence.
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