Italy loses the only top seed left in the men’s draw of the Internazionali d’Italia after Jannik Sinner’s withdrawal: the tournament of Lorenzo Musetti [26] lasts only one set and one game on his debut in the second round. After losing them (7-5 1-0) against the French qualifier Terence Atmane, the blue raises the white flag due to physical problems. The French tennis player now awaits the winner of Nishioka-Dimitrov.
In recent days Lorenzo had been hit by a virus which put him to the test again today, in front of the crowd at the Centrale. In the first set Simone Tartarini’s student tried to test his condition, suffering a surgical break from the French left-handed player in the twelfth game for the 7-5. The attitude of Musetti’s body, fresh from the final lost at the Challenger in Cagliari, has always been negative and his retirement at the beginning of the second half was inevitable. The hope is to see him back in shape for Roland Garros, scheduled for the last week of May.
Musetti’s words in the conference
“Yesterday in my room I had a fever and a virus that didn’t allow me to get to the match well. This morning I got up with difficulty. The heat and these conditions didn’t help me. I had no energy, I was trying to shorten the points. Withdrawing hurts because the tournament is worth a lot to me, I felt very good in training and I was coming off a good week in Sardinia. There is much regret about this withdrawal. I will try to take all the time to recover. Now I should go to Turin hoping to recover in time and then directly to Paris for Roland Garros, where I will arrive a little earlier. I won’t play in Geneva or Lyon.”
Zverev: “So many big names injured? No time to rest!”
