Davis Cup Italy & Britain , Fognini is in Doubt

Written by: Staff on 27th March 2014

Davis Cup Italy & Britain , Fognini is in Doubt

epa04140912 Fabio Fognini of Italy returns the ball to Rafael Nadal of Spain during their match at the Sony Open tennis tournament on Key Biscayne in Miami, Florida, USA, 25 March 2014. EPA/RHONA WISE |

Italy’s hopes of reaching a first Davis Cup World Group semi-final since 1998 could be jeopardized by leading player Fabio Fognini either missing next week’s tie against Great Britain or playing in pain because of an injured leg muscle.

Italy has not reached the final of the competition since beating the United States 4-1 in Milwaukee in 1998 and after scoring a notable first round win in Argentina, captain Corrado Barazzutti’s team liked their chances against a British team centered around Andy Murray.

But the world, no.14 rushed back to Italy after losing in Miami’s Sony Open to Rafael Nadal in order to undergo an MRI scan on the left quad muscle that clearly troubled him during his limp 6-2, 6-2 defeat.

Fognini, highly talented but also notoriously combustible, faces a busy weekend against the British and would be expected to play two singles and a doubles tie. He has already played 26 singles matches and eight doubles encounters on the ATP World Tour this year and came to court wearing heavy strapping on his left leg against Nadal.

“This was my injury at the beginning of the year,’ Fognini revealed. “I’m going to have the MRI when I go home. If I can get ready for the Davis Cup I will.

“But I’ve been getting worse day by day. Yesterday I played a long match, it lasted two hours, there has been some pain.”

Beyond their second singles player, world No 33 Andreas Seppi, ranked 33 in the world , is Italy’s second string singles player and if Fognini is unfit, Barazzutti , would likely be forced to play 96th tanked Paolo Lorenzi. Fognini is also part of Italy’s regular doubles tandem alongside Simone Bolelli.

News via Bob Larson.

Topics: Davis Cup, Fabio Fognini, Sports, Tennis, Tennis News

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10sBalls_com says:

March 27, 2014 at 8:24 am

Davis Cup Italy & Britain , Fognini is in Doubt – http://t.co/Ffxd2B9TkS @DavisCup @fabiofogna #tennis #news
dergaiNatalia says:

March 27, 2014 at 8:26 am

RT @10sBalls_com: Davis Cup Italy & Britain , Fognini is in Doubt – http://t.co/Ffxd2B9TkS @DavisCup @fabiofogna #tennis #news