Lorenzo Musetti defied his coach’s orders to give up in the middle of the final in Monte-Carlo.

Lorenzo Musetti’s coach wanted him to retire in the Monte-Carlo Masters final (Image: Getty)

Lorenzo Musetti’s coach has revealed that he urged the Italian to retire in the middle of the Monte-Carlo Masters final. The world No. 16 went on an incredible run in Monaco, reaching the biggest final of his career against Carlos Alcaraz. But he struggled to win a game after taking the first set, losing 3-6 6-1 6-0.

Musetti was clearly physically hampered, receiving treatment from the physio later on in the match. His long-time coach mentor Simone Tartarini has now admitted that he wanted the 24-year-old to throw in the towel during the second set, giving an insight into the injury.

“This morning we were warming up and he already had a little problem with his quadriceps, so we took all the necessary precautions,” Tartarini told Ubitennis after the championship match.

“But during the match he felt more and more pain, he looked at me. After the first set he was already in pain and obviously he tried to play, putting weight on it at a certain point he was in a lot of pain and obviously he didn’t want to retire because he was in the final.

“He stayed on the court for the sake of form though, well, just to not retire, obviously. Because the final is played, that’s it.”

Musetti has since admitted that he didn’t want to quit the match. But his coach had a different approach.

Tartarini continued: “I told him to retire halfway through the second. Because he was in a lot of pain and therefore always thinking about the future, and risking getting hurt. He told me he wanted to finish the match, I said, ‘Okay, the match is over’.”

Neither Musetti nor his coach know what the specific issue is just yet. The world No. 16 has now pulled out of the Barcelona Open and is set to undergo scans and tests.

“We’ll do the tests, it could be a small strain, like the discomfort. Now we’ll do all the medical stuff because you can’t even do MRIs or ultrasounds while it’s still fresh,” Tartarini added.

Musetti, who is set to rise to a career-high ranking of No. 11 on Monday, has already explained why he refused to retire during the final.

“We still don’t know yet exactly, but of course we gonna do some exams in the next days. The thing is that, as you probably saw, I couldn’t finish the match properly, but, you know, in a final, I didn’t want to retire,” he said.

“It was probably the best way to finish, even if I was not able, you know, to play anymore. And, yeah, that’s it.

“Probably, you know, the toughness of the long week and the long matches that I played, at the end it cost me a little bit today.”

The Italian had to come back from a set down in four of his five matches en route to the final, and had less than 24 hours to recover after beating Alex de Minaur in the semis.