According to Alex Butler of UPI on Monday, Italian tennis star Fabio Fognini is currently recovering from multiple ankle surgeries. Fognini had surgery on both of his ankles this past Saturday in an Italian hospital.
There has been no professional tennis on the Association of Tennis Professionals Tour since March 1 because of coronavirus. On that date Thiago Seyboth Wild of Brazil defeated Casper Ruud of Norway 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 in the final of the Chile Open from Santiago. It was Wild’s first career ATP Tour win.
Fognini is currently ranked 11th in the world. He reportedly first had trouble with his left ankle three and a half years ago and then trouble with his right ankle two years ago.
Fognini had initially taken a break from tennis because of the pandemic, but when he returned to do some training, he felt discomfort in each of his ankles. One might wonder if Fognini is only having his ankle surgeries now because Italian hospitals have been hammered by coronavirus in the last couple of months. There are currently 233,836 cases of coronavirus in Italy and 33,601 deaths. The 33,601 deaths are the third most among all countries in the world. Only the United States at 109,001 deaths and Great Britain at 39,728 deaths have more fatalities than Italy.
Fognini is an ATP Tour veteran. Fognini’s best grand slam singles result came in 2011 when he reached the quarterfinals of the French Open. Fognini also has won nine ATP Tour events. His most notable title came at the 2019 Monte Carlo Masters in Monaco when he beat Dusan Lajovic of Serbia 6-3, 6-4 in the final.
There has been no word yet on when the ATP Tour might return in 2020. There is hope that it will return sometime in August with the Cincinnati Masters and the U.S. Open. It is very unlikely that the Rogers Cup in Toronto will take place due to the strict Canadian border controls due to coronavirus.
