Berrettini from possible retirement in the round of 16 of Wimbledon: the secrets – Corriere.it

Let’s start from the end. From that devastating serve to come out, produced by the Berrettini steelworks from the left, with which Alexander Zverev was swept away from the number one field of Wimbledon. Ace, on match point, the fourteenth of a third round dominated by muscle and head. Only a player who is well ends the match like this, with an exclamation mark. I amazed myself said the man who wanted to retire from Wimbledon and instead emerges in the second week of the Championships with his head held high, deserving the center back on Monday (Matteo finds him again after two years) against Carlos Alcaraz, the boy prodigy of world tennis.

If it’s a stable, consolidated, lasting rebirth, we’ll find out after the grass, in the American swing that leads straight to the last grand slam of the season, the US Open. For now, having completed three rounds and having survived the shocks of a tournament that was ll not to play, Matteo Berrettini at Wimbledon is a beautiful Italian story of pride and sweat and resilience, the former world number 6 who swims against the tide like salmon , dare the unbearable flying to London without being in shape (I came from an injury, the umpteenth, I trained little and served very little: not exactly the best preparation for a Grand Slam…), look among the blades of grass for ancient sensations and, one by one, he finds them, strengthening his soul and his trust. As? Be physically fit, without aches or pains, for a big man of that size the basis of everything. With sore abs (or worse) the serve is a blunt weapon (You have to be in place to throw an ace from the left on match point – he explained after the victory over Zverev -, otherwise the serve is useless to you), the forehand a shriveled stump, running on the lawns – a surface that favors him with a syncopated and continuously interrupted game, compared to long exchanges on the ground – a torment.

There is the physical, muscular aspect. Then there is the mental one. Beyond the extraordinary memories of two years ago, Wimbledon treats its Italian godson who sank in 17 months to number 38 in the ranking as the 2021 finalist, the first blue in history to succeed in the feat: to have still lived as a top player in Matteo it’s good, it gasses him, reassures him, appeases his existential doubts. The clan takes care of the rest. Pap Luca, the tribal chief, the highest authority in Berrettini’s emotional archipelago. His fiancée Melissa Satta, central to the pantheon (it is no coincidence that she sits to the right of her father in the stands), was the last to high-five him on Saturday in the tunnel leading to pitch one when the match with Zverev resumed after the rain interruption , an understanding made up of looks but also of decisions that affect the tennis player’s life if true, as they say, that Melissa took Matteo to her naturopath.

The fratricidal challenge with Sonego has given Berrettini back the desire to suffer, the high-level training with De Minaur has restored his blows, the triumph over Zverev has given him back the dimension of the champion. Maybe in difficulty, but still a champion. The rain helped, of course (lost the first set with Sonego, Matteo seemed on the verge of depression), but basically also from the sliding doors of existence that certain sporting feats pass through, destined (we hope) to have a long wave. The grass like this. Fills out all the flaws or acts as a balm for the soul. Arrived out of shape, Matteo Berrettini is training in progress at Wimbledon, he admitted it himself. The characteristics of the land would not have allowed it. But it was on the green that Matteo turned out to be a hero and not a tourist by chance. If there is a place predisposed to miracles, the place of strawberries.