Lorenzo Musetti has lost, long live Lorenzo Musetti. Especially for those first two sets in which he kept the world number 1 at bay and once again bewitched Paris: with the personality, as well as the game, as a true champion.
In the tie-break, Muse is unbeatable – ten out of ten career winners, including two against Djokovic – and at times he looked like Federer’s grandson, with impressive sequences of winners. Djokovic’s experience and accumulated fatigue, some physical problems, held him back from the third set onwards – and it certainly didn’t help him to stop, and think about what he had just done, for the toilet break that Djokovic took. at the end of the first two sets. But his future promises other great emotions, on a side note: the public loves his tennis regardless, because today it is difficult to see a tennis that is equally varied, courageous and imaginative.
“At the beginning of my career I too had to deal with injuries and I retired more than once,” says Djokovic. “And I know it’s not fun, but it’s a new experience, at that age you haven’t fully developed your potential yet and you have to emotionally manage the situation.” Musetti has the qualities of a top player, especially on earth, but he can also be on other surfaces. I wish him the best, I know him, we’ve trained together several times and I know he’s a great guy. If it continues like this, it will really reach the top ».
The same opinion that Boris Becker has: Musetti is the best teenager in tennis, along with Sinner. Djokovic today has problems with his style of play, because Lorenzo does everything quite well, not a decisive shot but the serve is ok, as is the mobility, the technique and also the confidence as he has already won many matches this year. But when you face the older ones you have to be ready physically and mentally. Young people don’t understand this. It’s not just about playing tennis, but about character and personality ».
The explanation of the retirement, 4-0 in the third set, is provided by Lorenzo himself: «During the third set I started to feel pain in the lower back, then fatigue also came. The first two sets lasted more than two hours, against Cecchinato I stayed on the pitch for five sets and over three hours. Why did I retire? I was starting to feel cramps, I couldn’t win a point anymore, it wasn’t fun for the audience anymore. Maybe if I had arrived less tired it would have been different, but it’s true that today for two sets I was above my level. I never missed having played so well in my life, maybe a set with Tsitsipas, but then I fell apart. I’m leaving with a lot of good feelings from this tournament. It was my first Grand Slam, if they had told me on the eve that I would have finished in the second round and I would have taken away two sets of the number 1 in the world, I would have signed immediately ».
Now it’s time to rest, but only as far as tennis is concerned: «I’m going home, and then there’s the maturity to do, which is like another challenge with Djokovic…. Then I will be able to focus only on tennis, starting with Wimbledon which is my favorite Grand Slam. I know that not all tournaments will be like this one, I will try to repeat myself especially in the Slams and to make it again in the second week. But I don’t promise anything, okay? ”
There was no thriller, if not in the first set, in the second match that saw Italy as protagonist on the Central, Jannik Sinner was good at recovering the 0-2 at the beginning, starting at 5-3, but when he went to serve for the set he played a bad game, also exhaling a double foul on Nadal’s first break point. And there in Sinner the light went out. Rafa won eight games in a row, also finishing with a coat (7-5 6-3 6-0 in two hours and 17 minutes) after leaving just three games on the street for the rest of the match.
However, the Azzurri’s tournament does not end here. Wednesday, Berrettini returns to the field, who against Djokovic will have the task of avenging the defeats of the (very) different twins Musetti and Sinner.