Matteo Berrettini knocked out, but fans don’t turn their backs on him

“Berrettini is among the very few greats on and off the tennis court.”

A bitter defeat. Painful. Unexpected. It came, among other things, after coming back from a two-set disadvantage and after having missed a match point. Matteo Berrettini’s experience at the Australian Open 2023 is all in the broken face of the Roman tennis player in the post-match press conference.

While his elimination in the first round suffered at the hands of Andy Murray, however, has elicited some criticism from insiders, the Azzurro athlete’s fans are all with him. Not forgetting neither what good Matteo had shown so far, nor the prospects for success in the immediate future.

“Always and only admiration. Berrettini is among the very few greats on and off the tennis court,” Attiliana wrote on Twitter, referring also to the honesty with which the Italian player commented on the defeat without looking for alibis. She was echoed by ‘Il Napolista,’ who wrote: “Berrettini lost but how nice it is to listen to a defeated player who doesn’t look for alibis,” and Anto_olivs: “The criticism started again: ‘he misses this, he misses that other.’ He took a champion in the first round, because Murray is a champion. He lost by a few points. He doesn’t lack mentality at all, he will be back in the 10 soon if he doesn’t have physical hiccups.”

To finish, Mario L. recalls how it was “A year with physical troubles and a United Cup more than good but I guess tiring, precisely because of the condition inherited from the year before. Then at a Slam you can take a very strong guy in the first round. Berrettini will bounce back.”