Indian Wells marred by ‘virus’ as Wimbledon finalist drops in pain | Tennis | Sport

Italian star Matteo Berrettini, who reached the final of Wimbledon in 2021, recently revealed he was ill just before the competition started. He overcame French star Adrian Mannarino 4-6, 7-5, 7-5 despite being tormented by muscle cramps throughout the contest. When Berrettini secured the victory, he fell to the floor in pain and writhed around in pain, prompting the supervisor and court medics to intervene.

The former World No. 6 did manage to recover in time to report for his post-match press conference. It was there he revealed he had been battling an illness in the build-up to the competition starting.

When asked about the cramps he battled, Berrettini said: “I fought really hard, until the very last point. At the beginning of the third [set], I started to feel a little bit of cramping.

“I was a little bit surprised at the beginning but then I remembered that I was sick until three days ago, so I was like, ‘Okay, it’s normal’.”

He was not the only one who was ill as the father of tennis star Zizou Bergs also revealed the Belgian has been unwell and that there may be a virus going round. Koen Bergs wrote on X: “Handling well his illness (stomach complaints due to virus among the players) with tennis focused on efficiency” before saying they are now focused on getting “100% healthy”.

With a huge amount of players, coaches, staff and spectators in attendance at Indian Wells, the risk of a virus spreading would be significant. Berrettini knows first hand what it’s like to have his tournament hopes be ended by an illness.

One year after reaching the Wimbledon final in 2021, Berrettini arrived at the 2022 competition as one of the favourites to win at SW19. He had also picked up huge victories in Stuttgart and Queen’s, which gave him a wave of momentum.

However, the then 8th seed had to pull out of the competition after he tested positive for Coronavirus. As well as him, former US Open winner Marin Cillic and Spanish star Roberto Bautista Agut also had to withdraw after picking up positive tests.

He will be hoping for better health before his next Indian Wells clash against World No. 4 Alexander Zverev. They face each other tomorrow in a huge match.