Matteo Berrettini, what a shame! He wins the first set then comes from behind to lose the grass final in Stuttgart against Draper

No way. She didn’t make it Matteo Berrettini to take home the Stuttgart grass tournament for the third time. The 28-year-old Roman lost in three sets to the Englishman Jack Draper which crowns a dream week by taking home the first ATP title of his career which from tomorrow will also guarantee him 30th position in the ATP ranking and the achievement of best British player on the circuit. A painful defeat for the blue who, after a dominated first set, suffered the return of Draper who was able to materialize the break point he had during the very balanced tie-break and then in the third set, completing and breaking the break in the during the seventh game (4-3) and closing the match after 2 hours and 24 minutes of battle 3-6, 7-6, 6-4. A Berrettini who can complain above all for the chances he had at 15-40 and 5-5 in the second set and also in the tense tie-break, where he was ahead by a mini-break at the start (2-1). Considering the long stop from which he had just come back (he hadn’t played since the Monte Carlo Masters) and the responses obtained throughout this week, the Italian has something to smile about in view of the next tournaments on grass where he remains a very tough nut to crack and a opponent that no big name will want to meet at Wimbledon at the end of the month.

The first set starts off great for Matteo who with his serve and taking advantage of some errors, perhaps also due to a bit of tension from Draper, breaks his opponent during the fourth game and takes home the first set 6-3 after half ‘hour of excellent tennis. In the second set Draper returns to a more square court and the set continues on a balanced basis until the 11th game when at 40-15 in favor of Berrettini, the British player with his back against the wall reacts with aces, effective returns and a nice serve and volley cancels two break points and reaches 6-5 which is the appetizer of a tie-break in which Draper further raises the bar of his level in response and with an excellent serve and volley wins the partial 7-6 forcing the third set. In the third set, Berrettini tries to preserve precious energy by stringing together aces and first serves but the turning point materializes during the seventh game when Draper hits a couple of deep returns and breaks the serve from Berrettini who capitulates 6-4 to Draper simply surgical and enjoying this first victory in the third final played in this decidedly magical 2024 for the 22-year-old from Sutton.

In the post-match interview on the pitch, Matteo Berrettini he did not hide his bitterness and regret for the outcome of this final.

I offer my congratulations to Jack. You had an incredible week and played an amazing match. It was a close call, this defeat would hurt for a while but this is tennis. I’ve won matches like this and I’ve lost them like today. I’m sure you will lift more trophies in the future. I wish you good luck for the next tournaments. I thank my team, a special team. Only we know what we are going through. Lots of ups and downs. Lots of injuries and controversial situations. Sometimes I wish the cameras could document behind the scenes to see what we had to go through. But this is life and sport. I am proud to have you by my side. You give me strength even when I think I don’t have any”.