Andreas Seppi insulted by the Italian Tennis Federation as he is refused a wildcard which denies him the chance to retire in front of his home crowd

Andreas Seppi insulted by the Italian Tennis Federation as he is refused a wildcard which denies him the chance to retire in front of his home crowd

Andreas Seppi - IMAGO / LAPbg

Former World No. 18 and Italian tennis veteran Andreas Seppi was about to retire this week at the 2022 Tennis Napoli Cup. His plans were however shredded to pieces by the Italian Tennis Federation who denied him the wildcard to enter the main draw.

With his current rank at 301, there was hardly any chance for him to get into the qualifiers. Hoping for a wildcard given he was the flagbearer of Italian tennis and the first-ever Italian man to win titles on all three surfaces, he was denied the chance stating, “Giving a wildcard to a retiring player would be a waste.”

Seppi took to his Instagram stories and wrote, “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.”

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Andreas Seppi retires having made the 3rd most consecutive Grand Slam appearances

Andreas Seppi
Andreas Seppi

Seppi turned Pro back in 2002 and made his Grand Slam debut at the 2004 US Open reaching the second round having failed to clear the qualifiers in any other slam that year. However, starting the 2004 season, Seppi made an appearance at the Grand Slams in every single event since then.

From the 2005 Wimbledon to the 2022 Australian Open, Seppi played the main-draw of all majors. However, starting from the 2022 French Open, he was back in the qualifiers losing in the first round in Paris while falling at the final hurdle in Wimbledon and New York this year.

The 2022 US Open was his 67th consecutive Grand Slam appearance, sitting behind Spaniard Feliciano Lopez. Lopez leads the tally with 79 consecutive major appearances while Fernando Verdasco is now tied by Seppi on 67 appearances.

Refusing a wildcard to one of the longest servants of Italian tennis, it’s a real shame that Seppi says goodbye to the sport against his will because of politics.

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