Matteo Berrettini’s exploits also inspire his fellow citizen and almost the same age Michele Lamaro, 23-year-old captain of the Italian rugby team who will make his debut in the Six Nations on February 6. «Matteo is a great athlete, a quality sportsman – says the Roman – what he is achieving in Australia should inspire everyone. The last three sets against Monfils were an example. We of the national team would also like to see the semi-final with Nadal. Too bad we play at 4:30 am… ». Yeah, too bad. The Australian Open have decided that the semifinal between Matteo and the former world No. 1 will be the first on Friday, scheduled no earlier than 4.30 am in Italy (tv on Eurosport) after the mixed doubles final. Stefanos Tsitsipas and Daniil Medvedev, on the other hand, will face each other in the other no earlier than 9 am in the Italian morning. But this is a historic match for our tennis, and perhaps it is worth getting up early.
In his entire career Nadal has lost only from five Azzurri, and only once in the Grand Slam tournaments: against Fabio Fognini in 2015 in New York. Fabio managed to beat him three times that year, even on clay. The first Italian to defeat Nino was Stefano Galvani, when Rafa was 15, in the Challenger in Seville, and then two years later, in 2003 at the ATP in Barcelona. In between, the victories of Potito Starace (Spanish satellite of 2002) and Filippo Volandri (Challenger of Heilbronn 2003). Against a Nadal who has already become… Nadal, Andreas Seppi won instead, in Rotterdam in 2006.
Snai’s bookmakers for tonight give Nadal’s victory at 1.50 and Berrettini’s at 2.60. A match decided in the fourth set is priced at 1.44, while the most probable option, again for bookmakers, is a fifth set. Nadal’s success for 3 sets to 2 is given at 6.25, that of Berrettini at 7.75.
At stake is not only the final of the Australian Open – which an Italian has never reached, and which for the Spanish champion would mean the chance to beat the record of 20 Slam titles that he shares with Federer and Djokovic – but also the n. 5 in the ranking, now occupied by Nadal, given that in the event of a victory Berrettini would overtake him.
The Spaniard would also become the fifth over 35 ever to play a Grand Slam final (it would be his sixth in Australia, the 29th in a Major), while Berrettini would get the first win of his career against a top-10 and draw Nicola Pietrangeli in terms of number. of Grand Slam finals achieved (2). In short, the numbers are a great challenge.