Matteo Berrettini ‘as always’ struggled physically before Gstaad run

Matteo Berrettini has said he was not sure he would play the Swiss Open in Gstaad before competing and reaching the final at the ATP 250 event.

The Italian looked in control and set to claim a 13th consecutive win before his form dipped and Casper Ruud took the trophy out of the 2018 champion’s hands 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-2.

Berrettini was clearly disappointed but kept his head high during the trophy ceremony.

“Not easy to talk after such a tough loss,” he said. “First of all obviously congrats to Casper and his team. Great job guys, you’re having an unbelievable season, [reaching] the final in Paris, winning a lot of matches. So, good luck and keep going.

Berrettini then thanked the crowd for their support before turning to his team, praising them for all the hard work they do with him.

“It’s really tough, you don’t see what is behind the scenes,” Berrettini expressed. “At the beginning of the week I was struggling with my body, as always. So I wasn’t sure that I could play the tournament but here I am holding the [runner-up] trophy so I’m really glad for the job that we’re doing.”

Berrettini will be right back in action again next week as he moves on to the Generali Open in Kitzbuhel where he will again be the second seed behind defending champion Ruud.

As such, the final in Austria could see Berrettini and Ruud face off once more as they look for success in the final week of the European clay before the ATP tour heads for the North American hard courts.

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