Defending champion Matteo Berrettini withdraws from Queen’s due to injury

Berrettini missed the clay court season due to a stomach muscle tear and lost 6-1 6-2 to Lorenzo Sonego last week on his return to action.

Matteo Berrettini had been hoping to challenge for a hat-trick of Queen’s titles (Bradley Collyer/PA) (PA Archive)

Defending champion Matteo Berrettini has withdrawn from next week’s cinch Championships at Queen’s due to an abdominal injury.

The 27-year-old Italian missed the clay court season due to a stomach muscle tear and lost 6-1 6-2 to Lorenzo Sonego last week on his return to action in Stuttgart.

Berrettini joined an elite group of players last summer when beating Filip Krajinovic in the cinch Championships final to become one of eight players in the open era to successfully retain the Queen’s Club crown.

The world number 21 was runner-up to Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon in 2021 – he withdrew last year after testing positive for Covid – and it remains to be seen if the Italian will be fit enough to compete at SW19 next month.

Top seed and world number two Carlos Alcaraz will make his debut at Queen’s and faces qualifier Arthur Fils in the opening round.

Alcaraz, 20, has limited experience on grass and will be hoping for an extended run in his bid to improve on his best result on the surface, which was in reaching the fourth round at Wimbledon last year.

Unseeded record five-time champion Andy Murray faces a tough opening match against Australian world number 18 Alex de Minaur.

The 36-year-old Scot heads to Queen’s in fine fettle after back-to-back ATP Challenger Tour titles on grass at Surbiton and Nottingham as he continues his build-up to Wimbledon.

British number one Cameron Norrie, Wimbledon semi-finalist last year and the fifth seed at Queen’s, will play Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic in the opening round.

Second seed  Holger Rune, beaten by Norway’s Casper Ruud in the French Open quarter-finals, will bid to win his first tour-level match on grass when he faces American Maxime Cressy.

American third seed Taylor Fritz, a two-time title-winner on grass after victories at Eastbourne in 2019 and 2022, will play Spain’s Bernabe Zapata Miralles in the first round.