Laver Cup, Matteo Berrettini between praise and awareness

The Roman, summoned as Federer’s reserve, showed great shots in front of the London audience

The season has been marked by several physical problems and a few unexpected slips, but the results obtained in the Laver Cup can only put a smile on Matteo Berrettini’s face, who played three matches (one in singles and two in doubles) in front of the London audience, coming close to an en plein and snatching several applauses from the competent and passionate London audience.

Summoned as Roger Federer’s reserve once the Swiss made it official that he intended to play only doubles on the first day of competition, Berrettini made his debut on Saturday, first beating a tough cookie like Felix Auger-Aliassime in three sets, and then winning, paired with Novak Djokovic, the doubles match against De Minaur and Sock with a decidedly convincing 7-5, 6-2 win.

On Sunday, the Roman played another doubles match, this time paired with Andy Murray, and only narrowly failed to complete the string of successes: Auger-Aliassime and Sock, already executioners of Federer and Nadal, in fact won on the super-tiebreak, 10-8, after the first two sets had ended 6-2 for the Europeans and 6-3 for the North Americans.

Beyond the results good for almanacs, however, there remains the many praises for Berrettini and the knowledge that he has played at the highest possible level in one of the most competitive contexts in world tennis, proving that he has earned a call-up to the team that represents the European racket.