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

Defending champion Matteo Berrettini has withdrawn from next week’s Cinch Championships at Queen’s due to a stomach injury.

The 27-year-old Italian missed the clay-court season with a torn abdominal muscle and lost 6-1, 6-2 to Lorenzo Sonego on his comeback in Stuttgart last week.

Berrettini joined an elite group of players last summer when he defeated Filip Krajinovic in the Cinch Championship final to become one of eight players in the open era to successfully defend the Queen’s Club crown.

The world No. 21 finished second at Wimbledon in 2021 behind Novak Djokovic – he retired last year after testing positive for Covid – and it remains to be seen whether the Italian will be fit enough to compete at SW19 next month.

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

Alcaraz, 20, has limited experience on grass and is hoping for a longer run to improve on his best result on grass, reaching the fourth round at Wimbledon last year.

Unseeded record five-time champion Andy Murray faces a tough opening game against Australian world No. 18 Alex de Minaur.

The 36-year-old Scot travels to the Queen’s in fine form, having won back-to-back ATP Challenger Tour titles on grass in Surbiton and Nottingham, as he continues to prepare for Wimbledon.

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

Second seed Holger Rune, who was beaten by Norway’s Casper Ruud in the quarterfinals of the French Open, will be looking to win his first tour match on grass when he takes on American Maxime Cressy.

Third-seeded American Taylor Fritz, a two-time grass-grass title winner after victories at Eastbourne in 2019 and 2022, meets Spain’s Bernabe Zapata Miralles in the first round.