Matteo Berrettini Fights Back Tears in French Open Retirement

Matteo Berrettini was forced to retire from his French Open quarter-final match against Matteo Arnaldi, overcome with emotion as he conceded the match.

What happened?

The experienced Italian tennis player was enjoying a stellar tournament, having reached the last eight on his first appearance at Roland Garros since 2021. He made the perfect start, racing ahead with two early breaks of serve, but was eventually beaten in a gruelling first set that lasted 82 minutes.

Injury Strikes

In the second set, the 30-year-old began to experience discomfort and called a medical timeout to receive treatment on his left hip area. Berrettini valiantly tried to carry on, but ended up 5-2 down and was eventually forced to call it quits.

Emotional Concession

He looked emotional as he weighed up his decision to retire while sitting in his chair before approaching Arnaldi's side of the court to concede the match. The two players shared a sporting embrace at the net, with the crowd applauding Berrettini's efforts, before he walked away and wiped his eyes with his shirt.

Road to Recovery

Arnaldi sent a classy message to his injured rival in his on-court interview, saying: "You never want someone to end the tournament like this." Berrettini's career has been plagued by various injury setbacks, and his retirement was hugely unfortunate, given the form he had shown to reach the quarter-finals. He recorded wins over Marton Fucsovics, Arthur Rinderknech, Francisco Comesana, and Juan Manuel Cerundolo, who beat Jannik Sinner earlier in the tournament, to book his place in the last eight. As of June 2024, Berrettini's ranking will likely be affected by this injury, but he remains a top contender in the tennis world.