Berrettini, by now that’s over, too: the Roman tennis player’s statement makes his supporters tremble.
Too handsome, too famous, too rich, too coveted by the most beautiful women, too strong. Too much everything, in short. And, for that very reason, the social court has never forgiven him for anything. Not an injury, not a flirtation, not a commercial. Matteo Berrettini has paid every penny for being an athlete with the model’s charm and attributes, yet it seems that his “debts” are not yet over.
Even now that he is so obviously fragile, succumbing to his own fate and helpless in the face of yet another injury, there are those who continue to rail against him. To berate him for the love affair with Melissa Satta, as if his troubles began when he met her and not long before, when there was still no trace of the velina in his life. To suggest to him that it would be time to “pretend” to be a tennis player and give himself to the world of fashion. They tell him so much that a dedicated website would not be enough to list all the accusations that are daily made against the Roman Hammer.
The withdrawal from the Internazionali d’Italia did not exactly take us by surprise. It had been clear from the beginning, although Matteo kept repeating that he wanted to try, that he would not take the court for the opener against Stefano Napolitano. Because of the aftermath of tonsillitis, officially, though not everyone bought it. Because Berrettini has seemed so down in the dumps that it is possible, very possible, that there is more to the story. And not only, alas, on a physical level: as he has been touched by depression before, the fear is that yet another stoppage may have, rightly, tested him even more.
Fear Berrettini, comment rattles fans
He will try to recover in time for Roland Garros, he says, but we know that, at this point, it’s not just up to him. After two years like this, of continuous stop&go and disappointments, finding the strength to try again will be the real challenge.
Because, and this is the real problem, Matthew claims he has not given up, but the impression is that he has thrown in the towel. Or that, at any rate, he is one step away from doing so. Emblematic in this sense is one of the statements he allegedly made Wednesday afternoon, immediately after announcing his withdrawal from the Internazionali d’Italia.
“Someone told me: against you there is a voodoo rite – these are the words, reported by Il Messaggero, that worry us – I have patience, I hold on. Until one day even patience will end…”. A sentence we don’t like at all. Not one bit.