{"id":35016,"date":"2021-02-15T07:43:26","date_gmt":"2021-02-15T08:43:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=35016"},"modified":"2021-02-15T10:09:31","modified_gmt":"2021-02-15T10:09:31","slug":"brave-interview-after-devastating-open-call","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=35016","title":{"rendered":"Brave interview after devastating Open call"},"content":{"rendered":"

Italian star Matteo Berrettini has withdrawn from his Australian Open<\/a> fourth round match against Stefanos Tsitsipas with an abdominal strain.<\/p>\n

A disappointed Berrettini spoke to Nine's Todd Woodbridge shortly after the news broke, explaining why he hadn't attempted to play through the injury.<\/p>\n

Watch the Australian Open with live streams of every court at 9Now. Click here to start watching!<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Matteo<\/p>\n

"I'm really sorry to say that I got injured in the last match I played," Berrettini said. "I felt something on my ab and I thought it wasn't something really big but the next day I woke up and felt that it was big. <\/p>\n

"I spoke to the doctors and they said that it could get really worse so it's not worth the try. Obviously I'm not 100 percent, so to beat this guy (Tsitsipas), like you have to be 100 percent.<\/p>\n

"So I think it wouldn't be professional to step in when you're not the best."<\/p>\n

Berrettini added that the withdrawal was frustrating given the hot form he'd been in since arriving in Australia.<\/p>\n

The Italian world No.10 won his first three ATP Cup matches before losing his final to Russian star Daniil Medvedev, who hasn't lost a match in four months.<\/p>\n

\"Matteo<\/p>\n

Berrettini's first three performances in the Australian Open were also of a high standard, beating high calibre opponents Kevin Anderson and Karen Khachanov in straight sets, while dropping one set in his second round match against Czech young gun Tomas Machac.<\/p>\n

"I was really feeling well, not just tennis wise but also everything else, my mindset, everything," Berrettini said.<\/p>\n

"My ATP Cup was good, I was playing really good, so enjoyed the atmosphere even though I went through lockdown as well, nothing, you know, it's just bad luck."<\/p>\n

Berrettini picked up the injury very late in his third round match against Khachanov, pulling up and grabbing at his abdominal area at 5-4 in the third set. He played on and won the third set tiebreak to seal a straight sets victory, 7-6 (7-1) 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-5).<\/p>\n

Speaking on Nine's coverage, Lleyton Hewitt speculated that had the injury happened any earlier in that match it would have been the Russian facing Tsitsipas tonight, with a serious abdominal issue difficult to play through for long.<\/p>\n

\"How<\/p>\n

Hewitt added that Berrettini's camp had been scouting Rafael Nadal's match earlier today<\/a>, a sure sign that the Italian's decision to withdraw came at the very last minute.<\/p>\n

Alicia Molik praised Berrettini for fronting up to the cameras so soon after the disappointment of being forced to pull out.<\/p>\n

"Great sport though, to get out there and speak to Todd about the reason for his withdrawal," Molik said on Nine's coverage.<\/p>\n

The walkover for Tsitsipas ensures the Greek star will go into his quarter-final clash with Nadal with a spring in his step, having cruised through two of his three matches, while also having to fight to stay alive in a five-set thriller against Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis in the second round<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Stefanos<\/p>\n

The news of Berrettini's withdrawal broke just before Ash Barty was due to open the night session on Rod Laver Arena, with her match against American Shelby Rogers now the only night match scheduled.<\/p>\n

The Italian's decision also came just hours after Norwegian star Casper Ruud quit mid-match after falling behind two sets to love against Russian Andrey Rublev. <\/p>\n

Ruud was also suffering with a stomach injury, getting treatment on it before stepping up to serve for the second set. He was broken by Rublev and lost the resulting tiebreak 7-3 before deciding to call it a day.<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here!<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Italian star Matteo Berrettini has withdrawn from his Australian Open fourth round match against Stefanos Tsitsipas with an abdominal strain. A disappointed Berrettini spoke to […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35016"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=35016"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35016\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35018,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35016\/revisions\/35018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=35016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=35016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=35016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}