Cecchinato close to retirement: "If I'm not back in the Top 200 by 2025, I'll stop playing"

Marco Cecchinato is currently ranked 377th in the world, after a year in which he struggled on the Challenger circuit.

At 32, the Italian has already passed the high point of his career, where he reached the semi-finals at Roland Garros in 2018 and beat Novak Djokovic during his run.

Ranked 16th in the world after this unexpected result, Cecchinato admitted that he had been under pressure for results afterwards: "I had to train a lot, so maybe there was a bit of laziness.

I had reached a very high level and, at that point, I could call on a renowned coach.

I felt the pressure a lot, the criticism that came inexorably when I lost matches."

In freefall in the standings, the Brescia native admitted that he could retire as early as the end of the 2025 season: "This will be my most important season.

If I'm not back in the Top 200 by the end of the year, a ranking that guarantees me a place in the Australian Open qualifiers, I'll stop playing tennis."