Wimbledon: Matteo Berrettini Left Disappointed After a Great Comeback Against Grigor Dimitrov
Matteo Berrettini’s run at Wimbledon 2026 has also come to an end; after five sets and more than three and a half hours on the court, he was defeated by Grigor Dimitrov. The Bulgarian prevailed with a score of 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 5-7, 6-3, while the Roman is left with a bitter taste in his mouth after managing to come back from two sets down against his opponent. It was all undone by the final set, which marks his farewell to the London grass that made him a national hero in 2021.
Dimitrov took the first set thanks to a single break—the one that gave him a 3-1 lead. In the second set as well, Berrettini lost his serve only once, in the ninth game, and his fate seemed sealed. The Roman, however, rallied in the third set, taking a 4-2 lead over his rival and thwarting Dimitrov’s comeback attempt in an epic ninth game marked by two saved break points and three set points, until the decisive point that extended the thrilling match between the two.
Berrettini continued his magical run by breaking Dimitrov’s serve as early as the first game of the fourth set. After being tied at 3-3, he responded with another break in the eleventh game. Fatigue, however, set in during the decisive set, which the Bulgarian claimed once again with a single break: the one that put him up 3-1. This time, the Italian couldn’t mount a response and joined Lorenzo Sonego among the Italians eliminated at Wimbledon that day.
The Turin native also fought until the very end, falling to Taylor Fritz 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6(5) after more than two and a half hours of battle. The No. 7 player in the ATP rankings had to work incredibly hard to get the better of an indomitable Sonego, who won the first set and forced a tiebreak in the fourth, though the American ultimately prevailed 7-5. Despite the elimination, the Piedmont native can hold his head high, having come through a far from easy run: in the first round, he defeated Argentina’s Etcheverry in four sets, before pulling off a true upset in the second round against Canada’s Gabriel Diallo in nearly four and a half hours of play.
With Berrettini and Sonego out of the tournament, the torch for Italian tennis now passes entirely to Flavio Cobolli, the only Italian remaining in the men’s draw alongside Jannik Sinner. The Rome native, born in 2002, has reached the round of 16 for the second consecutive year, coming from behind to defeat Russia’s Karen Khachanov after exactly four hours of play with a score of 0-6, 7-6(4), 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-2. It was a performance of extraordinary character, as he managed to turn around a disastrous start—losing the first set in just 18 minutes—and find the energy to dominate the fifth set. Awaiting him in the round of 16 will be Australian Alex de Minaur.
Wimbledon 2026 began with high hopes for Italian tennis, which had fielded no fewer than seven players in the men’s main draw: in addition to Sinner, Berrettini, Sonego, and Cobolli, Luciano Darderi, Matteo Arnaldi, and Mattia Bellucci were also in the mix. This was one of the largest Italian contingents ever at the Championships, a testament to the depth the Italian tennis movement has achieved. Now, fans’ eyes are focused on Sinner, the defending champion and world No. 1, who is set to face Japan’s Shintaro Mochizuki in the round of 16 on Sunday—Mochizuki has been a surprise standout in the tournament after eliminating the higher-seeded Rafael Jodar.
