Flavio Cobolli reveals reason behind tears as Novak Djokovic and Alex De Minaur monitor injury situation

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.

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