Two days after retiring from his opening match due to a left oblique injury, Matteo Berrettini announced his withdrawal Tuesday from the Nitto ATP Finals being held in home nation of Italy.
The ATP Finals are the tour’s season-ending championships and pit the top eight singles players and doubles teams according to the ATP rankings. Berrettini, 25, qualified as the sixth seed out of eight.
His countryman, Jannik Sinner, replaced him in the field of eight in Turin as the first alternate.
“I’m devastated and I never thought I’d have to give up the most important tennis event ever held in Italy like this,” Berrettini wrote as part of an Instagram post written in Italian. “Thank you for your continued support and the thousands of messages you sent me.”
Berrettini injured his oblique Sunday during his match against Alexander Zverev of Germany. He took a medical timeout after the first game of the second set, attempted to keep playing but then packed it in. He was the first player to retire during an ATP Finals match since Andre Agassi in 1998.
Sinner is ranked 11th in the ATP rankings.
–Field Level Media
