Flavio Cobolli has lifted the lid on his tearful retirement against Matteo Berrettini at the Vienna Open.
The Italian beat Grigor Dimitrov in three sets in his first-round match but retired at 5-2 down against Berrettini in the first set of his second-round encounter.
Cobolli was in tears as he brought an end to the contest with his fellow Italian, as Berrettini tried to console the 24-year-old on Thursday night.
Not long after the defeat, the French Open finalist took to social media to explain why he was so emotional, in addition to addressing a fresh injury concern heading into the Paris Masters next week.
He wrote in an Instagram story, “Vienna, I’m sorry to leave like this. I love this tournament and was really looking forward to facing Matteo with all of you in the stands.
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“I felt something during my match the other night, but I wanted to give it a go. Today (Thursday) I realised I couldn’t keep going without pushing it too far, so I had to stop.
“Those tears weren’t from pain. Just emotion, maybe a little stress, and the disappointment of having to leave the court when all I wanted was to stay out there.
“I’ll have more tests tomorrow and update you as soon as I can. Don’t worry, I’m hoping to be back on court in Paris! Thanks for all the love. @erste.bankopen.”
Cobolli is hoping to qualify for the ATP Finals for the first time in his career, with the Italian currently in a strong position to achieve that goal.
With Jannik Sinner’s season-ending knee injury, Cobolli is effectively fifth in the Race on 3,680 points, with the qualification cut currently at 3,785 points.
He has a 496-point advantage over Rafael Jodar, who occupies the last qualification spot at the time of writing. Barring a catastrophic week in Paris, Cobolli looks well set to qualify for the season-ending event in Turin, but this injury complaint is not ideal preparation.
However, the fact that he hopes to be back in Paris next week suggests this is not a serious issue. But outsiders such as Alex De Minaur and Novak Djokovic may be keeping a close eye on Cobolli’s condition as they bid to make the ATP Finals, too.
The Australian, who is into the Vienna Open quarter-finals, trails Jodar by 254 points and Djokovic, who lost to Jan-Lennard Struff in Basel, is a further 40 points adrift.
