We lost one, we are about to find another. Why the revolving doors of Italian tennis, especially in the men’s field, travel at supersonic speed. And there’s no time to even digest the setback Jannik Sinner in the semi-final of Roland Garros against Carlos Alcaraz that the ATP calendar is already ready to propose again what before Sinner he was the player who, more than any other, was able to stimulate the imagination of the Italian public. That Matteo Berrettini who is preparing to return to the field in the season he likes most, naturally the one on grass pitches.
June, with the love that I love you: the month of Matteo
Stuttgart it is the destination chosen to resume a thread that has been interrupted for too long. And on the grass, the Roman tennis player’s favorite surfacesaw him give in in the last match played in Wimbledon last July none other than a Carlos Alcarazrandomly look at the same vigilante as Sinner to Paris. In short, the Spaniard always comes back in one way or another in the affairs of our local tennis players.
Only this time Berrettini he wants to definitively turn the page: since that day, where under the eyes of the ex Melissa Satta surrendered with honor to the future winner of the London slam, there were just 17 matches played by the former world number 6, who in the European clay season only took to the pitch Montecarlo (beat by Kecmanovic). Shortly before, it had arrived victorious Marrakech campaign and even before that the final lost in Phoenix Challenger, first glimmer of light after 6 months away from the fields. However, all aimed at one great objective: arrive in June and be ready for the grass tournamentsthe surface that more than any other could bring it back to the world of tennis that counts and put it back at the center of the village.
Stuttgart, these are sweet memories: the triumphs of 2019 and 2022
Berrettini presents itself at the start of the “sacred” month that the bandwagon will bring ATP towards Wimbledon from number 95 of the world. He hasn’t been on the pitch for two months, but in training he made it clear that he had prepared properly, without having to deal with any unexpected events. Stuttgart it is the first tournament he has set his sights on to rediscover the feeling of the best days: will not be seeded, but he will still be one of the tennis players that everyone will want to avoid, at least in the first rounds. And thanks to the withdrawal of Vukic he was able to avoid having to earn qualification to the main draw by going through the qualifiers.
NeitherAt the BOSS Open the memories for Matteo are sweet: here he triumphed in 2019 against Felix Auger-Aliassime (first tournament won in his career on grass), it was repeated here in 2022 overtaking Andy Murray in three sets in what seemed to be a magical year, then interrupted by a damned tampon that denied him the opportunity to go to Wimbledon.
Matteo, but not only: the other Italians on the field
The presence of Berrettini to Stuttgart will attract attention, but they will also be there Lorenzo Musetti and Flavio Cobolli to keep the blue colors high. Two who, however, only in their careers on grass (even though they are young) have never given up much hope: Musetti is 6-7 in the absolute precedents, even if a year ago a Stuttgart reached the quarterfinals, stopped by Tiafoe.
Cobolli he has played just two matches in his career on grass, both in qualifiers Wimbledon, both lost against tennis players much further behind him in the rankings (the Argentinians Kicker and Ficovich). Also Luca Nardi, present in the main board of ‘s-Hertogenbosch, he has very little experience on grass: two qualifying rounds a Wimbledon in the last edition and nothing more.
Waiting Sinner, which maybe will go to Queen’s it’s at Wimbledon with the intent of getting their hands on both trophies, Italy clings hard to the returnee Berrettini. Which wants to go back to being the hammer of the good times that once were.
