Matteo Berrettini says his focus is higher than it has ever been ahead of his return to competitive tennis following his injury.
The former Wimbledon finalist hasn’t played on the Tour since the US Open due to a foot problem and is currently ranked outside the world’s top 100. Last year he was only able to play 23 matches due to injury setbacks. He did travel to Australia last month to play in the first Grand Slam of this season but then decided to withdraw from his first round clash against Stefanos Tsitsipas.
“In Australia, I felt ready to play, the foot problem seemed to be overcome,” Berrettini told reporters earlier this week.
“Once in training, I realized that I wasn’t ready to perform. My only priority that I had given myself was: that I didn’t want to return from Australia injured and then have to sit out again. Since the injury in New York I have never trained for an entire month like before and I didn’t want to rush it.”
It has been a frustrating past few months for the 27-year-old Italian who has won seven ATP titles and been ranked as high as sixth in the world. In recent weeks he has sought advice from athletes from different sports, including one of AC Milan’s best-known figures.
Former footballer Paolo Maldini played as a defender for Milan for 25 years between 1984-2009 and made 126 appearances for his country. During his career, he won a total of 26 trophies with Milan.
“We spoke with Paolo Maldini about the situations, the problems, the differences between individual and team sports,” Berrettini explained.
“It gave me great confidence talking to him, it made me understand that there is still so much to give, that careers are long and emotions continue to be felt.’
“I have also remained in contact with Alessio Sakara, who practices mixed martial arts and has suffered many injuries. His mentality has always been to stay within the difficulties because in this way you discover character and understand who you are. Feeling experiences of different sports it’s very useful, you understand different dynamics but you put them in your context.” He added.
Besides seeking advice from other athletes, Berrettini is under the guidance of coach Francisco Roig who is best known for working with Rafael Nadal for 15 years. Roig comes in as a replacement for his former long-time coach Vincenzo Santopadre who he stopped working with at the end of last season. One of their key objectives will be to build on a series of tests that has been recently conducted on the tennis star’s health.
“The positive thing is that no incredible deficits have emerged, but something to work on: one is scoliosis that I have had since I was a child. In fact, we are working a lot on postures, on rotations given the abdominal problems.” He explained.
Berrettini has opted not to play in Indian Wells this year and instead begin his return at a Challenger event in Phoenix. Then he plans to go the Miami Masters before embarking on the clay swing with one of his goals being to play at his home event in Rome.
“I plan to have a good year, I’m concentrating like never before in my career on coming back, having fun and entertaining.” He concluded.
