The fairytale run by Matteo Berrettini at the US Open could be a sign of things to come, according to former world No.1 Boris Becker.
The 23-year-old has become the first Italian man to reach the semi-finals at Flushing Meadows since 1977. He secured the spot after outlasting France’s Gael Monfils in a five-set thriller that took place on Wednesday. Continuing a remarkable run for a player who had previously never gone beyond the fourth round of a major until now.
There have been signs that the world No.25 was on the way up. This season he has already won two ATP titles in Stuttgart and Budapest. He broke into the world’s top 50 for the first time in February before rising to a best position of 20th four months later. During this season, Berrettini has also achieved three wins over top 10 players by defeating Karen Khachanov twice and Alexander Zverev once.
“He deserves to win. I think Berrettini was the better player because he was physically stronger.” Becker commented about Berrettini’s win over Monfils on Eurosport.
“I think he is an extremely talented young player. For me, his performance is no surprise, and he won’t be a one-hit wonder. If he follows his path, he will become a top-10 player.”
Perhaps the best way to measure the current level of the rising star will be in his upcoming clash with Rafael Nadal at the US Open. It will be the first meeting between the two players and only Berrettini’s second encounter with a member of the Big Three. His first was at Wimbledon against Roger Federer where he could only win five games.
Former world No.2 Alex Corretja has cast doubts on the Italian’s chances against the King of clay. Corretja, who once coached Andy Murray and was the captain of the Spanish Davis Cup team, believes he lacks the weapons to harm his compatriot on the court.
“Matteo Berrettini has impressed me so much the way he has been playing. He has been hitting the ball so hard from the forehand side, big serve, mixing it up very well with the backhand slice.” Said Corretja.
“But I think he is going to struggle with Rafa’s movement, Rafa will move faster than him. He is going to open the court up to his forehand and find his backhand. When you slice to Rafa, it can’t hurt him too much.’
“I think Matteo will need to serve well and he will need to attack as much as he can and be aggressive. Hopefully physically he will have recovered from Monfils match. I am expecting a good match, but I think Rafa has the edge to win it.”
Berrettini is bidding to become the man from his country to reach the final of the US Open, which is in its 139th edition. Only two Italian men have ever won a major title – Nicola Pietrangeli (French Open 1959, 1960) and Adriano Panatta (French Open 1976).
Get to know #USOpen semi-finalist Matteo Berrettini (Video created by Eurosport and published with their permission) pic.twitter.com/fVu571CXkB
— Ubitennis 🇬🇧🇺🇸 (@UbiTennisEng) September 6, 2019
