Matteo Berrettini is an Italian tennis player, born in Rome in 1996.
📜 Matteo Berrettini History
As a child, Berrettini was a keen swimmer, footballer, and judo fighter, but he began focusing more on tennis around the age of 10.
After numerous appearances on the Futures and Challengers tours, Berrettini debuted on the ATP tour on home soil, appearing at the Italian Open in 2017 as a wildcard. In 2018, less than 2 years after his ATP debut, the Italian won his first ATP-level singles title, at the Swiss Open Gstaad. Amazingly, Berrettini achieved this feat without dropping a set, and whilst also competing in - and winning - the doubles draw. Berrettini's superb showing in Gstaad marked him out as a future star, and he ended the year ranked just outside the top-50. He continued to progress rapidly throughout 2019, and he finished the season inside the top-10, picking up trophies in Budapest and Stuttgart on his way, as well as reaching the semifinals of the US Open. Owing to his fantastic year, Berrettini qualified for the year-end ATP Finals, where he lost 2 matches and won his third.
In 2021, Berrettini reached the quarterfinals of Roland-Garros, and also reached the Wimbledon final, where he lost to Novak Djokovic in 4 sets. In reaching the final, he became the first Italian men's singles player to reach a Grand Slam final since 1976. At the beginning of the 2022 season, the Italian recorded his best ever Australian Open campaign, reaching the quarterfinals.
Matteo Berrettini is renowned for the pace and power he generates in his shots - a trait which has earned him the nickname "The Hammer". His strongest weapons are his serve and his forehand, shots he uses aggressively and decisively. Berrettini's backhand may be less devastating, but he uses it ably to construct points, opening up opportunities to produce forehand winners.