Berrettini, there’s the redhead around the corner for the Roman tennis player: he’ll run to her as soon as he gets the chance.
Final preparations and then ready, set, go. It’s less and less until Matteo Berrettini, who has been stuck in the pits since last August 31 and is determined, now more than ever, to climb up the rankings and get back to his old pace. First he’ll warm up a bit at the Phoenix Challenger, which he won in 2019; then he’ll move on to Miami for his first, real, litmus test.
At the Masters 1000 scheduled in Florida she will take advantage of protected ranking for the first time. He will play in the main draw as number 74 – only “virtually” – and will be able to use this measure for a total of 9 tournaments, to be spread over a maximum time of 9 months. It will be, that, a decisive tournament for the Roman champion, who will be able to compare himself with his old top ten colleagues and see where the break-in period with Francisco Roig has taken him. Which is that, then, the most interesting variable: will his new coach have succeeded in adding something to his game, as well as getting him back on his feet after this very long and not at all pleasant break?
We will soon find out. And we will then see especially if the enthusiasm dictated by the return will be an added value, able possibly to make a difference in this very difficult undertaking. There is a lot of meat on the fire, in short. As so much is the desire to regain what a bitter fate, unjustly, took away from him in the best moment of his career.
Berrettini, next stop Marrakech
Berrettini seems to have very clear ideas, moreover, about how to move and what to do in the coming months. So much so that he turned out to be registered for yet another tournament, showing that he plans to play as much as possible.
His name is on the entry list for the Marrakech Atp, which will be played from April 1 and which sees him at the starting ribbons with much, again, protected ranking. This is a 250-category tournament, “small” so to speak, but one that could be of strategic value to him. It is played on clay, which is why, in view of the upcoming events, it could prove particularly useful.
Especially since Matteo has not played on this surface for quite a while, having coincidentally been injured, the last two years, right around the time of the spring and this part of the season. Will it be, this, the right time?