Lorenzo Musetti is the pleasure of tennis. Not a pleasure for its own sake, but a plot of blows that often go through the most spectacular solution to achieve victory.
In Paris, at his first Slam tournament played on the draw, he is already in the second round and today he also won his first fifth set of his career, beating Marco Cecchinato in a long-awaited and very intense blue derby (3-6 6-4 6 -3 3-6 6-3). A beautiful game, also played very well by ‘Ceck’ who hoped to repeat his phenomenal adventure of 2018, when he reached the semifinals, beating Djokovic along the way. Also up for grabs this time there was an eighth final against the world number 1, who in turn easily got rid of Berankis (6-1 6-4 6-1), on a Monday that could become historic for the Italians . But the ticket was detached by the ‘Muse’, putting together a very solid match, won in the end with the determination, the mental solidity of the veteran, more than the 19 year old that he is. Embellished, among other things, by three or four extraordinary plays, gold threads intertwined with velvet.
On the break point that gave him the 2-0 lead in the third set, for example, he finished with a volley behind his back after Cecchinato tried to surprise him with a serve from below; then he got stuck on a millimeter lob with a counter-lob played on the stand from the stands, which overtook the opponent by bouncing on the line. But he was also able to neutralize two smashes with a sure shot by Cecchinato, closing on the second with a right passer-by in the race also the one to brush the line.
“Well on the second point there wasn’t much else to do but try to return the lob with another lob,” said Lorenzo. “But the first one was a mixture of magic and luck, because it came suddenly, and if I tried to do it ten more times it probably wouldn’t come to me anymore. I certainly enjoyed myself ».
The ease with which the Mago di Carrara, as he has been renamed, always finds different, exciting and winning solutions to the many game situations he has to face is impressive. It is as if the Slams have always been his natural habitat, his gym, the Roland Garros public has already chosen him as a new favorite, in an edition in which the French have already disappeared from both tables.
«I trained many times with Djokovic, so we get to know each other a little. There will be tension, but it is for matches like these that I have been training since I was a kid, if I got there it means that all the effort was not wasted. I have no message for him, today I enjoy this victory, from tomorrow I will think about how to beat Novak and go forward in the tournament ».
Starting beyond number 120 at the beginning of 2021, today «Musettì» is already virtually number 61. And we are only halfway through this Grand Slam and a year that promises to be memorable, both for Lorenzo and for all Italian tennis. “I’ve been asked many times about my relationship with Sinner. I believe that he and I are the future of Italian tennis, and I feel a little like reliving this year what he did in 2020. I finally joined the circuit, Jannik and I play every week and in the future we will spend a lot of time together. . I am pleased, even if now I have to think above all about myself ».