Being one step away from the dream, seeing its take shape, touching its texture, smelling it. then, the rude awakening in the guise of a player who is re-writing tennis history and who doesn’t seem intentioned to stop. Matteo Berrettini’s hopes of beating Novak Djokovic – who, thanks to yesterday’s success, wins his twentieth Major, the sixth title at Wimbledon and the eighty-fifth of his career – lasted only one set. Nole’s “not too bad” verges on being a conditioned reflex by now.
Matteo Berrettini has anyway thrilled and amazed, given the gift of tennis to the general public, beyond any elitism, and brought the magic of Wimbledon wherever a television (or streaming device) was on in Italy, for what remains a Sunday to remember for Italian tennis (and Italian sports at large, one might add).
The logical consequence of what we saw on court are Matteo’s words during the press conference at the end of the match: “It’s been a really special two weeks on the grass. I won the Queen’s Club tournament against my best expectations. Then I reached the Wimbledon final, something so big that – as I said after the victory in the semifinals – just dreaming of getting this far would have been too much”. But despite these words, more or less circumstantial, the message that comes with all its strength is that: yes, Matteo believed he could win.
“Obviously now I’m disappointed and angry because I lost and because I’m convinced that I didn’t play my best tennis, though the fact that on the other side of the court stood a player such as Novak must also be taken into account; that’s why he is one of the best ever. What was missing today? To play a little better from the baseline. However, for me it’s been an incredible two weeks that left me with the knowledge that I can win this title. What I will do in the coming weeks, months and years is very clear to me: I’ll work to try to lift that trophy”.
“I stepped onto the court knowing that his weapons defuse mine, it doesn’t always happen automatically and it doesn’t always happen in a final. He is the only player who could probably beat me, the only one who could put me in trouble on grass, I felt very good and emotionally that is not easy to manage. On this side, I’m sure this experience will help me. With my team we said we are on the right path and I agree on this”.
What will remain of this Wimbledon in Matteo’s heart? About this, he has a lot to say, much more to understand: “The emotions I felt in these two weeks are still inside me and I’m still trying to realize what happened; of all the emotions I felt, the one that came with the roar of the crowd is the one that will stay inside me for longer. Expecially at the end of the first set, I screamed a lot but I couldn’t hear my own voice, nobody could hear me. I was overwhelmed by the voices of the crowd members and if we think about what we have experienced in the last year and a half and how we played in the latter half of last season behind closed doors, this is the thing that will stay inside me the most.
“Anyways, I am very proud of what I have done and of what we are all doing for tennis; I will be received by President Mattarella, and this is a source of great satisfaction. Satisfaction that first of all, however, I want to share with those who have always been there, with my family, my friends, with my team and with you, the journalists who have always followed my career.”
In the end, a look at the upcoming Olympics: “The medal? I’m going to Tokyo because I think I can win one, it’s definitely my goal. The most important thing is to look ahead, challenging days are coming from a bureaucratic point of view, I will take a few days off to recover and then I will leave for Japan, hoping that this is the first and last Olympics to be experienced this way”.
Transcript by Carlo Galati; translated by Alessandro Valentini; edited by Tommaso Villa
