Former Madrid Open finalist Matteo Berrettini will not play at the ATP Masters 1000 tournament this year, as he withdrew one day before the draw.
The Italian recently returned to tennis, and he’s been doing really well. The comeback started on the ATP Challenger Tour, where Berrettini made a final in the first week back.
He then played on the ATP Tour and went all the way to win the trophy in Marrakech, which was his second Tour-level event of the comeback. It was an impressive run, but unfortunately, the events after that one didn’t go so well.
He lost in his first match in Monte Carlo, and he’s not going to play this upcoming week in Madrid either. His withdrawal from the tournament in the Spanish capital comes due to an illness that has plagued him in the past few days, even though it didn’t bother him when he withdrew from the Munich Open.
That was more of a scheduling decision, as he would have had to play three weeks in a row if he had signed up for that event.
“I have been struggling with an illness the last few days which has now evolved in to tonsillitis and a fever. Following another assessment my doctor advised it would be unsafe to try and compete in Madrid. Now my focus shifts to recovering as quickly as possible and preparing for Rome.”
Berrettini revealed the issues regarding his participation in Madrid, and they are mostly safety issues because it wouldn’t be safe for him to compete in his current state.
His goal will be to use that time to recover and better prepare for the Italian Open in Rome, which might be one of the most important events on his calendar. He’s from the Italian capital, so that event is hugely important to him.