Berrettini has two months left to try everything: June is the month to be circled in red on the calendar.
Each nation will be allowed to be represented by a maximum of four players. More than that, although many countries boast several world-class champions, you cannot. The rules say so, and it matters little, as a result, that so many bigwigs will remain on the sidelines to serve as wallflowers for the event of the year: the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Italy will be able to count, that’s for sure, on some of its most prestigious bigwigs. Leading the Olympic Race, the ranking that determines which tennis players deserve to participate in the Games, is Jannik Sinner, followed closely by Lorenzo Musetti, Matteo Arnaldi and Luciano Darderi. There is time until next June 9 to put up more points and possibly detach a pass for the competition, but right now everyone else is mathematically out of the running. In every sense of the word. Circumstances do not, at present, allow the participation of Flavio Cobolli, Luca Nardi, Lorenzo Sonego and Fabio Fognini. And it is likely that you are wondering, at this point, what will become of Matteo Berrettini.
In this special ranking, which takes into account the period between the end of Roland Garros 2023 and the end of the 2024 edition of the transalpine Slam, there is no room for the Roman hammer. Not today, at least. Having played sporadically and not achieved much in this time frame, the 2021 Wimbledon finalist has a treasury of only 430 points and is therefore 117th in the Olympic Race. The last word is not yet said, in any case.
Berrettini, it’s now or never
The rankings will officially close in two months, which is why, theoretically, the former No. 1 of Italy would have plenty of time to regain ground ahead of the Olympic Games. Especially since on clay, so far, she has done very well.
It won’t be easy, of course. There are so many dogs on the bone, as there should be, that Berrettini will not be the only one dreaming day and night about the medals up for grabs at the International Games. Knowing him, though, he will try hard. Just as he is trying hard, on the other hand, to make a comeback and forget the dark times that relegated him to the fringes of a ranking of which, until recently, he was an undisputed big name.
The upcoming events in which he will participate will be decisive at this point. Filed the trip to Morocco, Matteo will have to earn a place in the main draw in Monte Carlo and play, then, both in Madrid and Rome, where unfortunately – ironically, that being his city – he has been missing for some time. Let’s just hope, then, that the red will bring him the luck and joys he deserves.
