Matteo Berrettini warns Jannik Sinner

Matteo Berrettini warns Jannik Sinner

After a two-set victory over Frenchman Gregoire Barrere (6-4 6-3), Matteo Berrettini earned a derby against Jannik Sinner in the second round of the Toronto Masters 1000.

The Roman tennis player gave an interview to ATP Tour microphones in which he also returned to talk about the complicated moment he had to go through. “Feeling alive means that you are you. You do it for yourself and you don’t think about anything else. That’s what you love to do,” he stressed. “That’s what I lost a little bit with the many injuries I had. I lost the joy for the sport. I lost everything… That’s what makes me feel alive.”

He then returned to the injury he suffered at the Monte-Carlo Masters 1000: “Monte-Carlo was really tough for many reasons, because I started to feel good again. I enjoyed the [second-round] match, it was my birthday and I got injured. I couldn’t believe it. I had to skip the clay court season again, the Rome tournament, which is really special for me. It was really bad.”

The comeback on grass in Stuttgart was also difficult: “I didn’t feel ready, I felt really sad on the court and at Queen’s [Club] I felt my abdomen again. So I thought, this is a never-ending story. I saw everything dark. I thought there would be no chance to play again, missing Wimbledon again after last year’s COVID. I had so many thoughts, negative thoughts.”

Thanks in part to the help of staff and family at Wimbledon came the turning point: “They put me in a position where I had to fight again. And at that moment you don’t want to fight anymore. You just want to let it go and go somewhere else. But I fought and that was, I think, the turning point. I think Carlos is really good and deserved to win the tournament. But I felt that I could have done better and that I didn’t have enough tennis, enough training and he was just better than me on that occasion. Walking off the court thinking about what I could have done better was like a dream a few weeks before. I wish I could think about what I can improve on the court [with] my forehand, my backhand, whatever, and not just focus on ‘Okay, I have to be healthy.'”

After the win over Barrere, the Italian looks forward to his match with Sinner: “It feels good, it brings back good memories. I haven’t played many tournaments in a row for a long time. I’m getting used to it again. The other day I was thinking about the fact that I missed the travel part, being away from home for a long time, and I’m getting used to it again. That’s what I do, that’s what I like. I like to do what makes me feel happy.”