Matteo Berrettini paws at the ground, but return slips by 24 hours

Officialized to Thursday the postponement of the round of 16 against Richard Gasquet.

Metabolized by the bitterness of being forced out of the Wimbledon tournament due to his known Covid-19 positivity, Matteo Berrettini has spent the last few weeks training and also carving out time to assist his brother Jacopo, who was involved in the Ale Spa Trophy at the La Meridiana di Casinalbo di Formigine clubhouse two weeks ago.

The occasion for his return to the ATP circuit is the 250 tournament in Gstaad, where the Roman is credited with the second seed in the main draw. On Tuesday Berrettini did indeed meet his opponent – it will be Richard Gasquet, who overcame Spain’s Carballes Baena in two sets – but he also had to cash in on the news that his match had been moved to Thursday. Initially, the eighth final was to be played on Wednesday, but organizers decided to postpone the match. Meanwhile, Lorenzo Sonego sadly exited in the round of 16, losing in two sets to Peruvian Juan Pablo Varillas, who came from the qualifiers: 7-6 6-2 was the score in favor of the South American.

Matteo Berrettini, nicknamed “The Hammer” on the ATP circuit because of the supersonic power of his serve and forehand strokes, is an Italian tennis player, born in Rome on April 12, 1996. He decided to go all in on tennis thanks to the valuable advice of his younger brother Jacopo, also a tennis player. At the age of 14 he switched to training at the Canottieri Aniene club, led by Vincenzo Santopadre, who is still his coach.

Berrettini is considered the best Italian player ever on grass, being the only one to have reached the Wimbledon final. He also boasts the second best ranking (the first belongs to Adriano Panatta) ever for an Italian tennis player in the ATP rankings, having reached the No. 6 position in the ATP rankings in January 2022.