Matteo Berrettini makes a surprising gesture after his win in Shanghai

10/03/2024 04:00 PM

Matteo Berrettini has had to face many injuries in the last two years, unable to play as much as he would have liked. The abdominals have tormented the Italian ace several times forcing him to several retreats, not forgetting the COVID-19 that prevented him from participating in the 2022 edition of the Wimbledon Championships (in which he was considered the second favorite behind Serbian legend Novak Djokovic after reaching the final the year before).

The champion from Rome has achieved outstanding results over the past five years by rewriting the history of Italian tennis before the arrival of Jannik Sinner, who became number 1 in the world and won two Grand Slam titles this year. Despite the difficulties of recent years, Matteo has never lost hope to return competitive at high levels. To this end he ended his long collaboration with his historic coach Vincenzo Santopadre to rely on expert coach Francisco Roig, who has worked for many years with 22-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal.

Although he had several physical problems this year, Berrettini won three ATP titles in 2024. The Italian champion won in Marrakech in spring, before triumphs in Gstaad and Kitzbuhel at the beginning of the summer. The 2021 Wimbledon finalist also came close to winning on the grass in Stuttgart, but had to give up to a great Jack Draper in the final.

The Italian ace had to retire in Tokyo during the match against Frenchman Arthur Fils, a real shame considering that Matteo won the first set before feeling a pain in his abs. Contrary to expectations, Berrettini flew immediately to Shanghai for the eighth Masters 1000 of the season. The former Top 10 defeated dangerous Australian Christopher O'Connell in two tiebreaks and will face Holger Rune in the second round. At the end of the match, Matteo wrote a very funny sentence on the camera to cast away any negative thoughts.

After his match against O’Connell in Shanghai, the Italian ace reflected on his recent difficulties: "Last year was very tough, one of the worst years of my career and my life as well. When you can't do your job and what you love to do, then it's always a battle. That's why I'm appreciating every moment I have to spend on the court, perform, and give my best. I know it's a process. I've done a great job this year to reclaim my place in the ranking and I feel good, so I hope to have a great end to the season.” He also added: "It would be good to be among the Top 32 at the end of the year and be a seed in Australia. That's one of the goals we set, but at the same time for me the most important thing is to be healthy and able to play, that's the most important thing."

Berrettini is doing his best to climb up in the ATP ranking and he knows that there’s still a long way to go before he returns to 2021 levels. That was the best moment of his career, having almost made it into the top 5 and having played several quarterfinals and semi-finals in the Grand Slam tournaments.

Sinner’s rise was also a stimulus for all the other Italian players. Matteo - who was the star of the Davis Cup in Bologna - is a big fan of Jannik and the two champions faced each other at the second round of this year’s Wimbledon Championships playing a beautiful match.

“There are many things I would like to steal in the game of Jannik. But one of them, above all, is the dedication to work, more precisely his ability to always want to improve. He reached the tennis elite at a young age and never wanted to stop, and if you hear him speak, he always looks to the future, it is a quality that the great have” – Berrettini explained. This concentration is somehow innate and you work on it a little, so I try to do the same thing, keep pushing myself, looking for goals, feeling important stimuli. We’re not just talking about rankings or tournaments, but the joy of getting better” – he concluded.

Matteo’s main goal is to achieve good results in the last tournaments of the season and enter among the seeded players at the 2025 Australian Open. If he keeps his form, the Italian ace has a good chance of being called by Filippo Volandri for the Davis Cup Finals in Malaga in November. Last year, Berrettini was unable to play due to his usual injuries.