Roman tennis player Matteo Berrettini is ready to return to the court. He has to deal with no small problem.
After his absence at the Olympics and the decision not to play the Montreal tournament (which by the way is still being played) Matteo Berrettini will be one of the protagonists of the Cincinnati Masters 1000, an event that will open the doors to the upcoming US Open, the fourth and last Grand Slam tournament of this 2024.
For the occasion in the North American tournament almost everyone will be there, we will see the return of silver medalist Carlos Alcaraz while the only big absentees will be Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal. The Serbian champion has just won gold but has decided to rest and preserve himself in view of the season finale: the 1000s are now no longer a priority for him and he will play them only when necessary; Nadal, on the other hand, is now in the final phase of his career and will miss almost all the final part of 2024, including Slam or Atp Finals.
Berrettini is among the stars of the tournament but as happened also recently the former world number 6 has to deal with a major problem, not being a seeded player. This had created problems for him at Wimbledon where he caught Jannik Sinner only in the second round and got out despite a good showing. The issue was repeated in Cincinnati as well and things did not go so well.
Matteo Berrettini, the draw says bad: so it’s tough as hell
Currently Matteo Berrettini is number 41 in the world, and the goal is to get back into the seedings as soon as possible. The seeded players in a Slam are 32 while they are even less when it comes to Masters 1000, precisely they are as many as 16. To improve the ranking Berrettini has to do well during these tournaments but certainly the draw does not help, in fact far from it.
Looking at the Cincinnati draw Matteo will face in the first round the young Nordic talent Holger Rune, seeded number 15 and in any case not an easy opponent to challenge. Here Berrettini will still start at least at even par, in the second round he could face Mannarino (favored over a qualifier) while freezing the draw of the eventual Round of 16 with Matteo facing precisely Carlos Alcaraz.
Certainly not the best possible way to get back into the upper echelons, Berrettini needs wins and therefore points and it is crucial to get them back as soon as possible. The important thing is to do well and gain positions, the latest performances have given tournament victories such as in Gstaad and Kitzbuhel and the Italian fans hope to see Matteo soon in the top ranks. Draw permitting.