Italian tennis player Andreas Seppi has called out the Italian Tennis Federation as he claims they refused to give him a wildcard into the Florence and Naples tournaments. Seppi, 38, announced his retirement last week. Seppi, a three-time ATP champion and a former top-20 player, was hoping to have his farewell in Florence and Naples.
But the Italian Tennis Federation apparently told him that giving him a main draw wildcard “would have been a waste.” “I would have loved to play in the Florence or Naples tournament for my farewell to professional tennis, but unfortunately the Italian Tennis Federation did not allow me to, saying that ‘giving a wildcard to a retiring player would have been a waste,'” Seppi wrote on his Instagram Story.
Andreas Seppi on his IG stories ☹️ pic.twitter.com/rwWopz9vxh — Mario Boccardi (@marioboc17) October 16, 2022
Seppi didn’t get a chance to compete in Florence, Naples
This past week, the inaugural Firenze Open in Florence took place.
This week, the Tennis Napoli Cup in Naples is taking place. Seppi, who is now ranked outside the top-250, wasn’t even close to making the main draw cut for either tournament. However, Seppi did compete in Florence, but not in main draw action.
Seppi tried to make the Florence main draw through the qualifying event, but he fell short in his attempt after Mikael Ymer handed him a 7-5 6-3 loss. Seppi got off to a great start versus Ymer, claiming back-to-back breaks to open an early 3-0 lead.
Down by two breaks, Ymer responded in a strong deficit way, winning the next four games to overturn an early and to take a 4-3 lead. In the 10th game – when Seppi was serving to stay in the first set – Ymer missed out on two consecutive set points.
Ymer didn’t get a break in the 10th game, but he broke Seppi in the 12th game, when the Italian was serving to stay in the first set. After winning the first set, Ymer broke Seppi in the second game of the second set and then held on to his serve the rest of the match to complete a two-set lead.