LONDON – Former high 10 participant Fabio Fognini introduced his retirement from skilled tennis at Wimbledon on Wednesday, shedding to Carlos Alcaraz in 5 setters on the primary day of final week’s event.
The 38-year-old Italian pushed two-time defending champion Alcaraz for greater than 4 and a half hours in his first match of two weeks on Centre Courtroom earlier than coming to the incorrect finish of a rating of 7-5, 6-7 (5), 7-5, 2-6, 6-1.
Fognini prolonged his loss in 10 consecutive tour-level matches, together with a 0-7 document in 2025.
“That is one of the best ways to say goodbye,” Fognini stated.
This was Fonini’s 63rd Grand Slam occasion, and its greatest end result reached the quarterfinals on the 2011 French Open, however he did not play that spherical as a result of his injured thigh, thus shifting his opponent Novak Djokovic ahead.
Fognini is the husband of Flavia Penetta, the 2015 US Open champion.
After the match with Alcaraz, Fognini sought one of many Spanish shirts as a present for the oldest of his and Penetta’s three kids.
A self-proclaimed hothead, Fognini was well-known for his uncommon on-court behaviour that repeatedly triggered fines.
He docked $3,000 at Wimbledon in 2019, saying he needed a sequence of explosions on the time, saying he needed “a bomb to blow up on the membership” through the match, and in 2014 he needed a sequence of explosions on the time of $27,500. He was on probation for 2 years by the Grand Slam Fee in 2017, slandering a lady’s chair umpire on the US Open and was kicked out of the event’s doubles occasion.
Fognini leaves the game together with his ultimate 9 tour single titles in Monte Carlo in 2019. Later that 12 months, he got here in ninth within the ATP rankings, Italy’s first male within the high ten since 1979.
He was ranked 138th at Wimbledon.
