Berrettini ‘heartbroken’ after being ruled out by Covid-19
Last year’s runner-up and one of the favourites for Wimbledon, Matteo Berrettini, has withdrawn from the tournament after testing positive for coronavirus. The Italian reached his first grand slam final at the All England Club last summer, losing in four sets to Novak Djokovic, and has been the form player on grass this summer.
After recovering from hand surgery that had ruled him out since March, Berrettini defeated Andy Murray to win an ATP tournament in Stuttgart and then successfully defended his title at Queen’s Club last weekend.
Writing on Instagram, Berrettini said: “I am heartbroken to announce that I need to withdraw from wimbledon due to a positive Covid-19 test result. I have had flu symptoms and been isolating the last few days. Despite symptoms not being severe, I decided it was important to take another test this morning to protect the health and safety of my fellow competitors and everyone else involved in the tournament. I have no words to describe the extreme disappointed I feel. The dream is over for this year, but I will be back stronger. Thank you for the support.”
Berrettini, who has been replaced by lucky loser Elias Ymer, was the eighth seed and had been due to face Cristian Garin in the opening match on Court One on Tuesday. His withdrawal follows that of former finalist Marin Cilic, who announced on Monday that he had also tested positive for Covid-19. Both players were in Rafael Nadal’s half of the draw, with Cilic seeded to be his fourth-round opponent. (PA Media)
There are no fewer than 11 women’s singles matches currently under way, and five men’s singles ties. In the women’s games Sakkari is the highest seed playing now (No 5), then the highest after that is Jelena Ostapenko, who is 5-3 up on Oceane Dodin in their first set.
In the men’s draw, David Goffin is already a break and 2-0 up against Radu Albot. That’s on Court 14. Both are unseeded.
Yulia Putintseva (seeded 27) is under way against Alize Cornet on Court 10 and it’s 2-2 in the first set. Neither player has managed to hold on to their serve yet.
Meanwhile, play is commencing across the venue. On Court 3, Maria Sakkari (5) has gone 2-0 up in the first set against Zoe Hives.
Matteo Berrettini out with Covid
I mentioned that Berrettini was due on Court 1 a bit later. Well, he isn’t anymore:
Matteo Berrettini is out of Wimbledon after testing positive for Covid-19.
Brutal.
— Tumaini Carayol (@tumcarayol) June 28, 2022
A terrible disappointment for the player who went all the way to last year’s men’s singles final. Get well soon.
Andy Murray threw in an underarm serve in his match against James Duckworth yesterday – watch it here:
“If they stand four or five metres behind the baseline, then why would you not do that to try to bring them forward if they’re not comfortable returning there?” Murray said. “Tactically, it’s a smart play.”
Heather Watson will be back on Court 1 later but not until after Matteo Berrettini’s match. Watson lost the first set to the world No 110 Tamara Korpatsch on a tiebreak yesterday, having been 5-1 up, but rallied to win the second set 7-5. They will be back to play the third and final set.
Here, if you missed any of them, are a few of the pieces we’ve recently published from Wimbledon:
“For Anhelina Kalinina, a 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 winner over Anna Bondar on Monday, the £78,000 she is guaranteed for reaching round two will go toward helping her family rebuild their home in Ukraine, which, she revealed, has been bombed by Russian forces.”
Simon Cambers reports:
Barney Ronay
There has been an eagerness to cling to these pegs of the pre‑pandemic summer: Glastonbury, Wimbledon, queueing endlessly for a low-cost airline seat. And Monday was a red-letter day for the All England Club in other ways, with first-round appearances for the only two British players to win a grand slam singles title in the past 45 years, Andy Murray and Emma Raducanu.
Preamble
Emma Raducanu and Andy Murray were the headline-makers yesterday as Wimbledon welcomed a capacity crowd for the first time in quite a while. Raducanu, the 19-year-old US Open champion, performed admirably on her Centre Court debut to see off Alison Van Uytvanck. Murray dropped a set against James Duckworth before finding his rhythm and progressing to a second-round date with John Isner.
It’s another packed day of tennis today: women’s singles top seed Iga Swiatek, the French Open champion, is up first on Centre Court against Jana Fett of Croatia at 1pm. Rafael Nadal (No 2 seed) will then face the Argentinian Francisco Cerundolo before the seven-times women’s champion Serena Williams takes on Harmony Tan in the final match scheduled on Centre.
Matteo Berrettini, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Simona Halep, Coco Gauff, Karolina Pliskova and Garbine Muguruza will be taking to the court later, too. That sounds like plenty to be going on with. Let’s do this.
