Matteo Berrettini is getting ready to make his return on the court at the ATP Cup in 2022 in January after being forced to withdraw from the first round-robin match against eventual champion Alexander Zverev at the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin due to an abdominal injury.
Berrettini talked to the Italian sports newspaper about his preparation for the upcoming season.
“I am now fully fit. The injury has healed sooner than expected. I trained in Florida with very good players in excellent weather conditions. I trained on the aspects that I need to improve to continue my progress. I never stop improving. I have to learn playing at the net and work on my serve”, said Berrettini.
At the Australian Open Berrettini reached the fourth round but he withdrew from the tournament with an abdominal injury. He remained out of competition until the clay season last April.
Berrettini beat Aslasn Karatsev in the semifinal in the final of the Serbian Open in Belgrade. A few weeks later the Italian player lost to Alexander Zverev in his first Masters 1000 final in Madrid.
At the French Open Berrettini became the first Italian player to reach the fourth round in every four Grand Slam tournaments. He advanced to his second Grand Slam quarter final, as Roger Federer withdrew ahead of their fourth round match. Berrettini lost to world number 1 Novak Djokovic in the quarter final.
Berrettini won the first ATP 500 title of his career at Queen’s in London beating Andy Murray in the second round, Daniel Evans quarter finals and Cameron Norrie in the final becoming the first debutant to claim this tournament since Boris Becker in 1985. He became first Italian to win at the Queen’s Club.
Berrettini reached his second consecutive Grand Slam quarter final at Wimbledon by beating Ilya Ivashka. He defeated Felix Auger Aliassime in four sets to reach his first Wimbledon semifinal and his second semifinal at Grand Slam level. He became the first Italian player in the Open Era to reach the Wimbledon semifinals and the second in history after Nicola Pietrangeli in 1960. He beat Hubert Hurkacz in the semifinal becoming the first Italian player to reach a Wimbledon singles final and the first Italian man to reach a Grand Slam final since Adriano Panatta at 1976 Roland Garros. Novak Djokovic rallied from losing the first set tie-break to beat Berrettini in four sets 6-7 6-4 6-3 6-4.
Berrettini reached the quarter final at the US Open before losing to Djokovic in a re-match of the Wimbledon final.
“Djokovic is one of the best players of all time, but I know that I can win a Grand Slam title”, said Berrettini.
Berrettini has set high goals for the 2022 season. “I want to start strongly next season at the Australian Open and at the US hard-court tournaments. My goal is to progress as far as possible at Roland Garros. It’s the first Grand Slam tournament where I reached the third round in 2018 when I was an unknown player. I would not like to play against Djokovic three times at Grand Slam level as it happened this year. I would like to feel the thrill of playing against Roger Federer again”, said Berrettini.
