Lorenzo Musetti has opened up after his “really painful” retirement against Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open and revealed he believes the injury he suffered was a “tear.”
The world No 5 was leading 6-4, 6-3, 1-3 against 10-time Australian Open champion Djokovic in the quarter-finals at Melbourne Park when he was forced to retire due to a right leg injury.
Musetti entered the match with a 1-9 record against Djokovic, and he was delivering a superb performance until his body cruelly broke down.
The Italian star was competing in his first Australian Open quarter-final, and a victory over the 24-time Grand Slam champion in Melbourne would have surely have been his finest win.
In his post-match press conference, Musetti revealed the issue arose early in the second set and got progressively worse.
“Well, I felt it at the beginning of the second set. I felt there was something strange in my right leg,” said the Italian.
“And I continued to play because I was playing really, really, really well, but I was feeling that the pain was increasing, and the problem was not getting away.
“I feel personally that I know my body and I feel personally that I’m kind of secure that this is a tear, unfortunately.”
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Asked if he had an idea as to why he has had to retire multiple times at Grand Slams, Musetti said he had no explanation.
“No. We have done all the exams and tests before starting the season to see and to try to prevent these kind of injuries, and nothing came out,” he said.
“So I honestly have no words to describe how I’m feeling right now and how tough is for me this injury in this moment.”
The 23-year-old added: “Honestly, I never imagined the feeling of leading two sets to zero against Novak and playing like that.
“Having the lead of the match like that and being forced to retire is something that I will never imagine. Of course, it’s really painful.
“I played almost all the second set like that, but I could play, because especially with the serve, it was helping me a lot. I was trying a little bit to push from the baseline, which I was feeling the ball pretty well today.
“So I was managing to try to hold there and to stay and try to, you know, not look at the pain. But then afterwards when I sit down for three minutes and stayed longer in the wait position, the pain immediately started to increase.
“I was – especially when I was going with the forehand on the open stance – I was feeling that I could not come back to the middle. As you saw, I could not really play. Unfortunately, there was no chance, and no way to tape it, to do something, to continue to play.”
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