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Jannik Sinner took a moment to send a special message to Matteo Berrettini after Italy's Davis Cup win, highlighting his presence meant a lot even though he was unable to play. Berrettini, the 2021 Wimbledon runner-up, had a nightmare 2023 season that was marked by constant injuries and setbacks.
Berrettini, who didn't play any tournaments after the US Open, went to Malaga last week with the Italian team. Throughout the entire week, Berrettini was doing his best to support his compatriots as well as he could. In the end, it ended in the best way possible for Italy as they won their second Davis Cup title - it was their first win in the competition since 1976. “It has been an incredible feeling for all of us, obviously we are really happy.
[A] huge thanks to Matteo Berrettini. He’s had a very, very tough year with a lot of injuries and it means a lot to all of us that he came here with his positive energy. We kept everything together. Yesterday, we were one point from being out and now we can celebrate the win.
I think we can all be very, very happy," Sinner said.
Berrettini receives a very beautiful tribute from Sinner
In the spring, Berrettini was sidelined for most of the clay season due to an abdominal injury. Then, Berrettini was hampered by an ankle injury during the summer on hard courts.
After retiring injured his US Open second-round match, Berrettini was hoping to play again in 2023 but he ended up shutting down his season. “There are many, many reasons why I was really sad. First of all, obviously because I couldn’t compete, which is the thing that I love to do.
Then there was another thing that came in. I wasn’t enjoying the process of coming back. Unfortunately [in the past] I had many injuries, but I always found, not the joy, but the challenge of coming back and feeling kind of like, okay, now I put the work in.
When I was feeling something on my body, I was really struggling. I went down. Mentally I wasn’t ready to face the challenge," Berrettini admitted in Malaga.