By Julien Pretot
PARIS (Reuters) -A physically and mentally drained Lorenzo Musetti paid a heavy price for his superb claycourt season as he was forced to retire from a gripping French Open semi-final against Carlos Alcaraz on Friday.
The Italian craftsman threw in the towel while trailing 4-6 7-6(3) 6-0 2-0 having bagged the opening set in emphatic fashion, but a growing pain in his left leg eventually put an end to his dream of reaching a maiden Grand Slam final.
“I started feeling this discomfort in the first games of the third set. I tried to manage it, but I felt I was losing more and more strength and power in that muscle, and eventually, I just couldn’t keep up in the rallies,” the world number seven told a press conference.
“At that point, it was risky to force it — I wasn’t able to stay in the match anymore.”
Musetti is the only player who this season made it to the last four of every top claycourt event – Monte Carlo, Madrid, Rome and Roland Garros – and the efforts he made on a very demanding surface eventually took their toll on court Philippe Chatrier.
“It’s been a very, very intense month. It’s a month that definitely gave me a lot but also took a lot from me in terms of mental energy,” he explained.
“Sometimes constantly digging deep inside yourself can wear out the body, too. But of course, I’m 23, I haven’t played 10 years’ worth of Slams, so when you go deep in a Slam, it’s not always easy to maintain a very high physical level.
“I think from these matches, and even from injuries, you can learn and improve — you have to.”
Musetti admitted that Alcaraz pushed him to the limit and hinted his injury might have come from the physicality of the defending champion.
“Definitely, Carlos pushes me to reach my limits — that’s what champions do, of course. We all know he’s very strong physically, one of the strongest out there, so he builds a lot of his game around his physicality,” he said.
“I knew I had to be in good shape to keep up with him. I don’t know, maybe it’s just a coincidence, but we’ll definitely analyse what we could’ve done, what we can improve.”
Musetti will undergo tests on Saturday to determine the exact nature of his injury.
(Reporting by Julien Pretot; editing by Pritha Sarkar)
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