Berrettini, Melissa Satta again: everyone has noticed. Galeotta was, apparently, the victory in Marrakech.
We could and should have expected it. Matteo Berrettini had done it once before, and we knew perfectly well, therefore, that he could do an encore. In fact, he is not entirely new to such feats: back in 2022, after several months of absence and a surgery in between, he had returned to the major circuit and won two consecutive tournaments, the Atp in Stuttgart and Queen’s.
The fact is that it sounded too good to be true and was almost scary to even say out loud. Yet, he amazed us once again. Again, just like two years ago, he won a trophy just weeks after his return to the professional ranks. With the aggravating factor that many more months had passed this time. Matteo is there, then, despite the fact that there was much fear that the long stop might have “tried” him in some way. On the red clay of Marrakech, flashes of the old Berrettini were seen again, and this, especially in view of the season on grass, can only give us hope.
The Roman, needless to say, raised his new cup to the sky with his eyes smiling. He wanted to thank the Italians for the support they have given him during these long months, but he did not know yet that many detractors would seize the ball and make his victory in Morocco an alibi to justify their theory.
Berrettini, here’s Melissa again: can’t take it anymore
Even the walls know by now that throughout Matteo’s time away from the circuit, Melissa Satta was literally “crucified.” His was to blame, according to the haters, for his slump in the rankings and his physical ailments. And they found a way to bring her up even now that they are no longer together and he is back to winning.
Yeah, because the very fact that he added another trophy to his collection would be indicative, according to many social media users, that that theory was true. That Berrettini’s problem was Satta, not his mind or even his physique. This being the case, it was clearly of no use for Melissa’s outburst a few weeks ago, evidently tried by the criticism she suffered during the year she spent at the tennis player’s side.
And it is fair to wonder, at this point, how much longer this story will have to go on. There are plenty of messages on social media repeating this refrain, but wouldn’t it be time to leave the former beauty queen alone and judge Berrettini solely and exclusively from the point of view of his on-court performance?