Matteo Berrettini at Wimbledon 2021
Until a few years ago in the days preceding the draw of the Wimbledon Championships the common feeling of the Italian enthusiast was “Let’s hope for a favorable draw and that our team will be able to get through a few rounds…”. Fortunately, the prospects for Italian tennis at the 2024 edition of the oldest and most prestigious seasonal tournament are truly different. We await the outcome of the draw – Friday 28th, 10am London – for a complete analysis of the draw, and in particular to know Djokovic’s decision on whether or not to participate in the tournament which will also have a decisive impact on Jannik Sinner’s path ( due to the position of Carlos Alcaraz, a possible opponent only in the final or already in the semi-final), but in general Italian tennis players arrive at Wimbledon with more than decent prospects, and not only thanks to the phenomenal season of our number 1.
Lorenzo Musetti is rediscovering his best tennis on the lawns (I talked about it in the editorial video from a few days ago, betting on the Tuscan’s enormous potential on grass, a surface that better than any other can push him to go beyond his technical and aptitude problems), as demonstrated by the final at Queen’s and the semi-final in Stuttgart; Matteo Berrettini played a very good tournament in Stuttgart, only stopped in the final. Last year Matteo, having just returned from yet another injury, magically found his serve and speed on the court at Wimbledon, getting rid of very tough people like De Minaur and Zverev before being blocked by future champion Alcaraz; Sonego on the lawns can exalt himself and play top-level matches; Darderi is experiencing the best moment of his career and the power of his serve plus forehand combination certainly works even on grass; Cobolli is in the study and maturation phase, his vis pugnandi has no limit to any latitude; If Arnaldi understands the timing of the attack well he can surprise, and Nardi if he is focused on performance with the ball he can do what he wants. We will then see how the veteran Fognini is doing, waiting for positive news from the “which ones”. In short, in addition to the monumental Jannik Sinner, who is obviously among the favorites for the title, we have many arrows to be able to aspire to a Slam as protagonists, perhaps with more than one player still competing in the second week.
This, in a nutshell, is a snapshot of what we will be able to see from our players at Wimbledon 2024. An abundance that we were absolutely not used to in London, not only numerically but in terms of perspective, given that until a few years ago Italian tennis & grass was a sort of taboo, an almost insurmountable barrier, both culturally and technically. Born and raised on the “real” clay, the equally “real” grass was poles apart in terms of mentality, technical qualities (service and volley play) and competitive spirit. Yes, obviously we went to Wimbledon, but without too many expectations because the second week almost always remained a mirage, with the specialist on duty ready to trip ours, ready to return to clay in Europe for the summer events.
History has changed: Matteo Berrettini has broken a historic barrier by playing the 2021 final, even winning the first set against a very strong Djokovic, almost unbeatable that year. Then Sinner reached the semi-finals in 2023, and reached the quarter-finals in 2022, on both occasions always stopped by “him”, mr. Djokovic. The last three Wimbledons have seen our great protagonists, even on grass we are competitive at the highest level. But it wasn’t always like this…
Luckily the wind has changed, but history speaks clearly: From the dawn of the discipline to 2020, the excellent results of our tennis players at Wimbledon can be counted on the fingers of one hand. Nicola Pietrangeli boasted the best overall result, with the semi-final played in 1960; therefore four appearances in the quarter-finals: Uberto De Morpurgo (1928), Nicola Pietrangeli again (1955), Adriano Panatta (1979), and Davide Sanguinetti (1998). From 2021, as already reported, the Italian wave arrives with the Berrettini final in 2021, the Sinner quarterfinals in 2022 and then the semi-final in 2023.
The very first Italian tennis player to play on the “sacred” Wimbledon courts was Gino De Martino in the distant 1911, to be precise on June 26th. The Roman player was stopped by the British Augustus Hendricks (3-6 6-3 6-4 8-6 the score). The first excellent performance of one of our players at the Championships is marked 1928, with the Triestine Uberto De Morpurgo good at climbing with enormous determination until the quarter-finals, where he was beaten by the greater tactical sagacity and shots of the “crocodile” René Lacoste, one of the legendary four French Musketeers.
Then you have to wait almost thirty years (and the passage of the Second World War) to find one of the best Italians in London, exactly in 1955, thanks to a young Nicola Pietrangelione of the best tennis players of his era, good at fighting until the end against the Dane Kurt Nielsen, losing only 7 games to 5 in the fifth set. Five years later the talented Roman, at the best of his career after winning his second title at Roland Garros, played a legendary match in the semi-final against Rod Laver, defeated 6-4 in the fifth from the Australian left-hander, who will recently complete the first of his two annual Slams there, a feat never repeated.
Another 19 years passed before an Italian was among the best 8 at Wimbledon. In 1979 Adriano Panatta finally managed to make his talent explode on the grass too, reaching the quarter-finals at the Championships and losing a match that still gives headaches to those who followed it, and… suffer it. In fact, Adriano wasted a great chance to reach the semi-final, as he was overtaken and defeated in the fifth set by Pat Dupre, a decent American tennis player and nothing more, wasting the advantage of a set and 4-0 in the second set. If Panatta had won that match, Tanner would have been in the semi-final, a difficult but not impossible match.
Then darkness, for another 19 years, with no excellent results from our players at Wimbledon. He thought about turning the light back on Davide Sanguinetti in 1998: the man from La Spezia in that edition of the Championships served like a train, responded aggressively and attacked the net with his backhand. He beats Van Herck, Squillari, Voltchkov (in a terrible match with a thousand interruptions due to rain) and Clavet one after the other, and flies to the quarter-finals where he finds one of the most terrifying serves of the tour, that of the Dutchman Richard Krajicek, champion two years earlier. Unfortunately Davide never manages to respond and his run stops there, but it remains a legendary tournament for him.
Another 23 years passed before we smiled again at Wimbledon, thanks to Matteo Berrettini’s unforgettable ride. Matteo is seeded no. 7, he starts by dropping a set to Pella, then gets rid of Van De Zandschulp, Bedene and Ivaska in three sets, and is in the quarterfinals, like his illustrious predecessors. But his path continues, he beats Auger-Aliassime with a great match and in the semi-final Hubert Hurkacz. He has already written history for Italian tennis, never before had one of our tennis players reached the most important final of the season. He takes to the court against Novak Djokovic, plays a stellar first set on serve and wins it in the tiebreak. He is two sets away from lifting THE greatest cup in the world. Unfortunately Novak finds the counter moves in response, rises to the level and recovers. Berrettini doesn’t make it, but he symbolically opens the door to a tournament that had always been a forbidden, almost unattainable dream for us. Sinner follows him closely, quarter-finals and semi-finals. In 2024 Jannik is seeded No. 1. Wimbledon is no longer a taboo, it’s a goal. Finally to win.
Marco Mazzoni
