Tennis, Berrettini and the last commitment of 2022 in Arabia

Matteo Berrettini’s 2022 is not over yet. After the doubles lost in the Davis Cup, paired with Fabio Fognini, in the semifinal against Canada, the Roman is expected at the very rich Diriyah Tennis Cup, an exhibition tournament that will be held in Saudi Arabia from 8 to 10 December and which now boasts the participation of five top 10 and other illustrious names in tennis.

Berrettini and Hubert Hurkacz are in fact only the last two players announced, who join a “parterre de roi” made up of Stefanos Tsitsipas, Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev, Taylor Fritz, Alexander Zverev (returning after the Roland Garros injury ), Cameron Norrie, Nick Kyrgios, Dominic Stricker, Dominic Thiem and Stan Wawrinka. The winner will receive a one million euro cheque. “I’ve never been to Saudi Arabia but I’m sure the atmosphere will be great and I hope tennis will inspire local fans and especially the younger generation,” Matteo said. After some struggles, I’m excited to compete against a very strong field of participation to see where my level is before the start of the new season.”

LEVEL

Therefore, the Diriyah Tennis Cup is also a way to test the recovery level of the blue tennis player, who hasn’t played a singles match since the ATP 250 final lost in Naples against Lorenzo Musetti. In Campania, Berrettini hurt his foot, an injury that actually compromised the end of the season, the race to the Finals and, who knows, maybe even Davis to Italy. The return to Malaga in doubles showed (and it could not be otherwise) a convalescent Berrettini and far from his level. After the performance in Arabia, the former blue top ten will prepare for the long Australian trip in the heat of Dubai, as many of his colleagues do due to a climatic fact above all, in view of the summer “Down Under”, with the debut at the newly formed United Cup from 29 December.

FUTURE

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It will be a very important 2023 for Matteo, who will turn 27 and will have to sweep away, first of all himself, the many doubts that this 2022 brings with him, especially on a physical level. A year lived between injuries and hand operations, abdominal problems, the aforementioned foot, with the icing of Covid at Wimbledon, just to increase the bad luck. We need to get the car back on track, at the right revs, with the engine at full speed, and regain confidence. A trust that Berrettini sometimes felt lacking, so much so that he thought of closing the year early, but then the will to fight arose, and he did it with grit and even courage, putting his heart into it. And this is the best way forward for the coming year.