Fuss about farewell: Andreas Seppi didn't deserve that

It's wonderful that the Kalterer will be playing the last tournament in his home country. The fans in our country are happy, and so are the organizers. But Seppi would have liked to have played an ATP tournament in Italy at the end.

Im Dolomites In an interview on September 21st, Seppi had indicated that he would resign at the end of the year. He made it official in an interview with Rai South Tyrol last week. After qualifying at the ATP tournament in Sofia, Seppi also wanted to play at the ATP tournaments in Florence and Naples. He applied for a wild card in the main draw at both tournaments. He was denied it twice. “The association said it would have been a waste to give a wild card to someone who resigned.” Andreas Seppi On Sunday evening, Andreas Seppi spoke out on social media. “I would have loved to play in the main draw in Florence and Naples to say goodbye to tennis, but unfortunately the Italian Tennis Federation did not allow me to do that and told me that it would have been a waste to give a wild card to someone who retires .”

Seppi played the qualification in Florence and lost 9:5, 7:3 against eventual semi-finalist Mikael Ymer 6 days ago. Afterwards, Seppi was hoping for a wild card in Naples so that he could say goodbye on a big stage. In Naples in 2014, with his victory in the Davis Cup against James Ward, he scored the decisive third point in the victory against Great Britain, which gave Italy a place in the semi-finals. To date, the greatest success in the Davis Cup since the final in 3. Berrettini got the preference In southern Italy too, Seppi was stalled and then disappointed. Seppi then withdrew his entry for the qualification, which he could have played last weekend with his current world ranking position (257). Flavio Cobolli, Luca Nardi and Matteo Berrettini got the wild card in Naples. Berrettini (ATP 16) had asked for an “invitation” to Naples after the early exit in Florence. That probably cost Seppi the wild card.

When it was clear that Seppi would also come away empty-handed in Naples, the Kalterer finally agreed to compete in Val Gardena on Friday. He will serve for the last time at the home tournament in Ortisei next week. He won there in 2013 and 2014 and reached the final in 2012. Solidarity from Fognini Italy's tennis association could have given Seppi a farewell wild card at a major tournament, after all, he was Italy's number 1 at the end of the year five times (2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2017) and played for the "Azzurri" in the Davis Cup for 14 years He played 27 matches in 45 international matches: 39 singles (20 wins) and 6 doubles (4 wins). Only Fabio Fognini has played more often in the Davis Cup in the last four decades. The FIT's decision to ignore Seppi caused a lack of understanding not only among Fognini, his long-time rival. Fognini said goodbye to Seppi in an emotional post on Instagram.

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Fuss about farewell: Andreas Seppi didn't deserve that

Andreas Seppi will end his illustrious career at the Challenger in Ortisei next week. But the 38-year-old from Kalter deserves a farewell on a bigger stage. That didn't happen - and that's causing a stir.

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