The South Tyrolean Jannik Sinner from Val Pusteria, a youngster who has been hailed by many past champions as a future Top 10 member, is no longer Italy’s sole 19-year-old standout. There is another one. His name is Lorenzo Musetti, a Tuscanian boy from Carrara. He turned 19 on March 3, and he is 6 months younger than Sinner – but they are not exactly twins. Sinner belongs to the Djokovic genre: solid, powerful, a machine, although his volleying is still somewhat subpar. Musetti belongs to the Gasquet genre: he has a complete repertoire, inventiveness, unpredictability, instinct, drop shots, volleying. However, his serve and forehand still need to improve.
The twins are similar only because they both have a great backhand. Lorenzo’s backhand is one-handed. He can find all sorts of angles with his pure talent. His outstanding finesse does not only resemble the former ATP N.7 Gasquet but also, not to be blasphemous, the divine Roger Federer.
Musetti demonstrated class, mental and physical toughness (4 tiebreaks won out of 4 in Acapulco), extraordinary variety of shots and unusual tactical awareness for a boy of his age. He won 6 matches in a row in Mexico in an ATP 500 tournament, starting from the qualifying draw and beating, in the main draw, world N.9 Schwartzman, then the American Tiafoe, who is N.56 (but was ranked 26th in February 2019), and finally the 16th-ranked Bulgarian Dimitrov, a former world N.3 in 2017 when he won the ATP Finals, for 64 76 (3), seizing the seventh match-point he had on his hands at the end of a magnificent duel of one-handed backhands with almost endless emotions.
Last night Musetti lost against world N.5 Stefanos Tsitsipas, but he will still rise to N.94 on Monday, and will thus be the first man born in 2002 to reach the ATP Top 100.
He will be the ninth Italian male players among the best 100 players in the world, an all-time record. On Monday, the ATP ranking had Berrettini at N.10, Fognini N.18, Sinner N.32, Sonego N.37, Travaglia N.68, Caruso N.84, Cecchinato N.89, Seppi N.96 and close behind Mager at N.101. Musetti was ranked 120th.
Musetti’s ranking was so low despite having beaten three Top 20 players in the course of only four tournaments played in the ATP circuit – 17th ranked Wawrinka in Rome, in the autumn, in addition to the two he just ousted in Mexico – because, due to Covid, too many tennis players were able to freeze their 2019-2020 ATP points.
The era of Grand Slam “qualies” is over for Musetti. He won’t have to play them at Roland Garros. The semifinal of Acapulco comes after a round of 16 run as a qualifier in Rome as well as a semifinal reached as a wildcard in the ATP 250 tournament that took place in Sardinia last October. A performance worthy of a Top 40 player. In the 2021 ATP Race to Turin, he is actually ranked 21st.
The best Italian, however, is still Berrettini, 24 years old, with his heavy groundstrokes as well as his Roddick-style serve and his forehand. Behind him, Lorenzo “Octopus” Sonego, 25 years old, is also on the rise, after reaching the fourth round at the French Open and the final in Vienna – he beat Djokovic in Austria.
The Renaissance of Italian men’s tennis, after almost half a century of disappointment, is well underway.
Translated by Irene Zecchi; edited by Tommaso Villa
