Italy’s Andreas Seppi says staying ranked inside the top-100 for 15 years is the part of which he is the proudest. Seppi, 38, turned pro in 2002. This week, Seppi’s career came to an end after two decades on the ATP Tour.
On Tuesday, Seppi suffered a first round defeat at the Ortisei Challenger as Yannick Hanfmann beat the Italian 5-7 6-3 6-4. Seppi, who broke into the top-100 for the first time in 2005 May, exited the top-100 in 2020 October.
Seppi returned to the top-100 last year and he was also ranked inside the top-100 shortly at the start of this season. “I remember when I broke into the Top 100, I was just thinking, ‘I hope I can stay a few more years in the Top 100’.
Now seeing that I did it for 15 years in a row is something I would have never expected at the beginning and, that’s the part I am most proud of,” Seppi said, per Mario Boccardi.
Andreas Seppi: “I remember when I broke into the Top 100, I was just thinking, ‘I hope I can stay a few more years in the Top 100’.
Now seeing that I did it for 15 years in a row is something I would have never expected at the beginning and, that’s the part I am most proud of.” pic.twitter.com/1tYcINXTSR — Mario Boccardi (@marioboc17) October 25, 2022
Seppi didn’t get a chance to have a farewell in Florence, Naples
In the last two weeks, Florence and Naples staged two ATP 250 events.
Seppi asked the Italian Tennis Federation for main draw wildcards into those two Italian tournaments, but his wish wasn’t granted because his federation did not want to “waste wildcards.” “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.
Because Seppi didn’t get a chance to have his farewell in Florence and Naples, he elected to play the final tournament of his career at the Challenger event in Ortisei. Seppi maybe suffered a first round defeat in Ortisei, but at least he got a chance to say goodbye to tennis in front of his home fans.
This news is republished from another source. You can check the original article here