Trailing 7-5, 5-2, the former Wimbledon finalist Berrettini was forced to retire with a hip injury, a result that made the 104th-ranked Arnaldi just the second man to win a Roland-Garros quarterfinal by retirement in the Open era.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cI\u2019m the last one that wants to retire. I'm so tired of it. I just don't want to do it, but sometimes you have to do it,\u201d Berrettini said, as quoted by the ATP tour. \u201cA lot of players have done it in the past, and it's the worst feeling ever, but it's the right thing to do, because it's not the last tournament I'm going to play in my life, and I have to think about my future. I have to think about my recovery.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Shortly after losing a gruelling 76-minute first set, Berrettini left the court for a medical timeout down 2-1 in the second set, and a love hold seemed to steady him briefly. Though he bravely battled on for three more games, the former world No.6 had nothing left to give, and reluctantly pulled the plug after exactly two hours.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cThey told me that the area was really sore and really painful. So I just tried, but then the pain was too much, and I hope that I didn't do any serious damage. I just have to wait and see in the next days for the scans and everything to see what it is.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\"Hopefully it's nothing too bad. I'm obviously disappointed, but I think if I kept playing, I would have done way worse and probably the recovery time would have been longer. Unfortunately, I didn't have any other choices than retire,\" Berrettini said.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The former World No. 6, who was playing his first major quarter-final since the 2022 US Open,<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\"Hopefully it's nothing too bad. I'm obviously disappointed, but I think if I kept playing, I would have done way worse and probably the recovery time would have been longer. Unfortunately, I didn't have any other choices than retire,\" Berrettini said.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\"It's going to be tough, but that's the mentality that I like to \u2014 that's how I like to approach these two weeks. And of course I'm disappointed; I'm sad, but I'm also proud of the way I fought through this tournament,\" the Italian said.<\/p>\r\n\r\n