Matteo Berrettini, the highly anticipated comeback is already almost practically in the air: he did it even at half service.
Anything can be said except that his victory was fortuitous or due to a less than excellent performance by his opponent. Matteo Berrettini’s qualification to the quarterfinals of the Atp 500 in Vienna was as hard as ever, so the credit is all his and he has no demerits, on the other hand, the rival who paid the price, namely the indomitable Frances Tiafoe.
The Roman managed to tame him in three sets and it took all the tenacity he was capable of, to succeed in this mission with an outcome that was by no means a foregone conclusion. As well as a not indifferent repertoire of strokes, considering that the U.S. tennis player gave him quite a hard time, before abdicating and surrendering before the spark that his colleague had in his eyes from the first to the last moment. While waiting for him to play the third round on the Austrian concrete, then, we can enjoy the knowledge that Berrettini has, so far, done his best.
It is always scary to say this, considering that several times fate has tripped Matteo up, but it is clear that the Roman hammer is in great shape and that the improvements, from a game point of view, are remarkable. They were all seen, from first to last, during the match against the world number 15, which was not all serve and forehand, quite the contrary. What made it spectacular were the very many exchanges recorded in the three partials, which forced the two tennis players to invent ever new and unpredictable solutions.
Berrettini one step away from the dream: we are almost there
Victory against Tiafoe restored our hope, then. The double success so far on Austrian soil allowed Berrettini, in fact, to put 100 points in his pocket, and more.
He also made a big jump in the Atp ranking: virtually, at this very moment he is ranked 34th in the world. He holds a haul of 1370 points, which is quite a lot for a tennis player who, unfortunately, has not played the entire season, but has only been there at “half-time.” However, the situation, it should be emphasized, is in the making. Should Matteo come out on top against his next opponent, in fact, he might even improve and smile even more than he is doing now.
But even if that does not happen, no fear. The main thing is that, now we can say it, Berrettini is back and not so far from his deluxe version, the one that in the summer of 2021 made us daydream and hope that an Italian could win Wimbledon. Against a Matteo like that, one step away from a return to the top 30, it’s every man for himself.