Matteo Berrettini (photo Lapresse)
Matteo Berrettini withdraws from the Kooyong Classic on the eve of the Australian Open: no match with Thiem
Matteo Berrettini withdraws from the Kooyong Classic, an exhibition tournament that precedes the Australian Openthe first Slam of the season scheduled in Melbourne (14-28 January). The Italian tennis player was supposed to play against Dominic Thiem the second match of the program but will not take the field: the Austrian will face Francisco Cerundolo.
The former number 6 in the ATP ranking has not played since August 31st when he faced in the second round of the US Open Arthur Rinderknech (retiring at 6/4, 5/3 for the Frenchman). He had also been forced to miss the Davis Cup finals won by the Italy of Sinner, Arnaldi, Sonego and Musetti (with Matteo who, despite not being able to play, spent the week alongside the Italian group). The Roman tennis player had signed up for the tournament to test his physical fitness in view of the Australian. It is possible that it is a lump sum as a precaution.
But at this point he will have to make his direct debut in the first Slam of 2024 and it will be a far from simple first round given that the opponent is the Greek number 7 in the world Stefanos Tsitsipas (with whom he trained in recent days on the Rod Laver Arena under the eyes of the new coach Francisco Roig – the man who worked for 17 years alongside Rafael Nadal), finalist last year when he was defeated by Novak Djokovic (by the way: the draw led to a draw with a possible semi-final between Nole and Jannik Sinner).
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