World No. 7 Matteo Berrettini said he is feeling fine ahead of the 2022 season as he is set to open his season in Australia. Berrettini’s season came to an end on an unfortunate way as he suffered a left oblique injury at the ATP Finals.
Berrettini was 7-6 (7( 1-0 down to Alexander Zverev in his ATP Finals opener when he decided to retire the match. “Luckily the injury resolved pretty quickly now I’m well. I was able to train very well during these weeks of break.
I trained in Florida, with great conditions and a lot of top players to compete with. I was able to work on what I needed to grow more,” Berrettini told La Gazzetta dello Sport.
Berrettini tried to explain what happened after the match
“I didn’t feel anything and then I felt it just like in that serve in the last game and it’s something that it’s mentally really tough for me, because I used to have like an injury close to the same area, so it’s really tough for me to go and play over it,” Berrettini said after retiring to Zverev in his ATP Finals opener.
“Also, because I don’t know what it is. So first I have to figure out what it is and then mentally if I see that it’s nothing really big, then maybe I can play.” World No. 3 Zverev ended on the winning side but he felt sad for Berrettini.
This year’s ATP Finals took place in Turin and Zverev knew how much it meant to Berrettini to play in front of his home fans. “I don’t really know what to say, because this is the worst feeling a player can have,” Zverev said in his on-court interview.
“You play all year long to qualify for this beautiful tournament. For Matteo playing at home, this is the worst feeling I think he will ever have in his career.”