“I’m Not 100%”: Matteo Berrettini Announces Unfortunate News at Australian Open 2021

Rising Italian tennis star Matteo Berrettini pulled out of the Australian Open on Monday, citing an injury. The current World Number 10 withdrew from his much-anticipated pre-quarters clash against Stefanos Tsitsipas due to abdominal strain.

The withdrawal adds to the mounting injury concerns at the Australian Open, with several players battling niggles.

Berrettini reveals he suffered abdominal trouble in the last match

Earlier on Monday, Norwegian star Casper Ruud, too, pulled out midway through his fourth-round clash with Russian Andrey Rublev after suffering an injury.

By virtue of the Italian’s withdrawal, the sixth-ranked Tsitsipas got a bye into the quarter-final where he will face the 20-time Grand Slam champion, Rafael Nadal.

Speaking on his pullout on Monday, Berrettini told former doubles great Todd Woodbridge, “I got injured in the last match that I played. I felt something in my abdomen.”

He revealed that initially he didn’t think the injury was “big” but after experiencing pain he consulted his doctors who advised him to withdraw.

“I’m not 100%,” he said, adding that to beat Tsitsipas, he had to be at his best.

Matteo Berrettini’s withdrawal adds to mounting injury concerns at the Australian Open

Nadal, who had earlier withdrawn from Spain’s ATP Cup campaign citing back spasms, had an easy outing against veteran Italian Fabio Fognini on Monday, beating him in straight sets to seal his passage to the last-eight.

Berrettini’s withdrawal couldn’t have been more ill-timed as he was in blinding hot form, getting the better of veteran Kevin Anderson and emerging Russian Karen Khachanov on his way to the Round-4.

Carrying his winning momentum from the ATP Cup where he took Italy to its maiden final, Berrettini dished out aggressive, clinical tennis in the year’s first Major, putting himself into contention for the title.

Hence, his surprise pullout on Monday left his fans shell-shocked as they had been building hopes of him going all the way.

Top-seed and World Number 1 Novak Djokovic also sparked pullout fears after battling through an injury to win his third-round tie against American Taylor Fritz.

However, his four-set victory over Canadian Milos Raonic on Round-4 on Sunday seemed to allay the fears about his fitness.

The reigning US Open champion Dominic Thiem, too, revealed that he was badly undone by “physical issues” during his tame fourth-round loss to Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov.

READ MORE- Australian Open 2021: Stefanos Tsitsipas vs Matteo Berrettini, Preview, Head-to-Head and Prediction