Lorenzo Musetti’s coach Simone Tartarini explains reason behind decision to carry on playing despite injury in final of Monte-Carlo Masters

Lorenzo Musetti’s coach, Simone Tartarini, has revealed that he asked the Italian tennis player to retire from the Monte-Carlo Masters final. The 23-year-old suffered a heartbreaking defeat in the final of the recently concluded ATP 1000 event in Monaco to Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz, with a score of 3-6, 6-1, 6-0.

It was clear that Musetti was struggling with fitness concerns in the second set because of a fitness concern but he continued to play. His coach, Tartarini, was quoted in a report by Tennis 365, where he stated that he had advised the youngster to retire from the final, but he did not listen. He also explained when Musetti suffered the injury the first time.

“This morning, during the warm-up, Lorenzo had a problem with his quadriceps,” explained Tartarini. “We took all the necessary precautions, but, during the match, he felt more and more pain. He was already in pain after the first set, then – after playing on top of it at a certain point – he was in a lot of pain. But obviously, he didn’t want to retire since it was a final: he stayed on the court for the sake of it because the final must be played. Halfway through the second set I told him to retire, he was in a lot of pain. I was thinking about the future, there was a risk of getting hurt, but he said he wanted to finish the match. I think the crowd understood, but he wanted to finish. We will do the tests, it could be a small strain. Now we will do all the necessary medical things because in the heat of the moment you can’t even do ultrasounds. Maybe a little edema, so a little bit of a stop is definitely needed.”

Musetti, after losing the contest, stated that he was ‘really disappointed’ with the result and vowed to come back ‘stronger’ to take ‘revenge’. “I’m really disappointed that I could not finish the match in the best way,” he said. “For the crowd, for all of the support I received this week, but you deserve it. I will try to come back for the revenge.”