Roland Garros, Matteo Berrettini destroyed: "I hope I stopped in time"

Matteo Berrettini left the Chatrier in tears after the injury that interrupted his adventure at Roland Garros at the most beautiful moment. The Azzurro had to leave the court during his quarterfinal match with Matteo Arnaldi due to a physical problem, which he hopes is not serious. “I don’t know how much the pain I have now, which is quite a pain, will keep me still. I hope as little as possible. I hope I stopped in time, I hope it’s nothing serious,” he explained after the match. “I hope not to stop too much also because I was feeling the rhythm, I was feeling good feelings on the court, hopefully I’ll see you at Wimbledon.”

“I try to go home with a smile,” the Roman continued. “It’s hard, but this is the mentality I want to have. I received a lot of beautiful messages. So many people who love me, who write to me, even when things are going less well.”

“So many guys who are here with me now, my brother…Even for them I wanted to finish the game. Maybe lose, but to be able to then go out with them have a beer and say, ‘I tried.’ It’s been a great two weeks, now you pack your bags, you do your assessments, and you move on.”

Arnaldi, for his part, wanted to offer words of sympathy for Berrettini despite the joy of a historic result: “We both played a lot so it’s normal not to be at our best, however, you don’t wish anyone to end the tournament like this. I feel sorry for him but I know he will recover soon for the season on grass, where he is a tough opponent for all of us.” The Ligurian tennis player, number 104 in the ATP rankings on the eve of the tournament, is now poised to make a resounding leap in the rankings: as of Monday he will be at least in the world’s top 40, an even more surprising achievement when one considers that just a month ago he was involved in a Challenger in Cagliari. “I can’t believe it,” admitted Arnaldi himself, who will face Cobolli on Friday in an all-Italian semifinal.