At the end of the day, or better, at the end of the week, and what a week, what a troubled week, it has been a success.
Forget the bubbly courts and the qualifying matches moved to another tennis club; forget the evening sessions suspended due to the dampness turning GreenSet into an ice-rink; don’t fret about customarily-pampered players either checked out from hotels while busy playing or compelled to enjoy waterless showers. Such trivial issues are brushed aside by the spell-binding magic of a centre court whose sea view defies the Monte Carlo Country Club, and by the blaring atmosphere, the limitless energy pouring from crammed stands, generated by the hottest of crowds cheering their home players relentlessly, all the way along, so as the fulfil the organizers’ dream of an all-Italian final, the eighth in the history of modern tennis.
Matteo Berrettini and Lorenzo Musetti are among those players who remind us that tennis is also creativity, not just outstanding athleticism. Matteo is capable of cannoning a 230 Kmph serve and following it with the most gently and intimately caressed dropshot. Lorenzo is endowed with one of the rare and most elegant one-handed backhands featuring on the tour.
Today the two players were facing each other for the first time, which made it even trickier to pick a winner.
Doubts whether Berrettini would be affected by the left foot injury which had consistently hindered his mobility in the first set of his semifinal against McDonald were initially dismissed by the way he ran down a couple of dropshots by Musetti in the early stages of the match.
In the first six games it was Berrettini who most struggled on serve, having to save four break points. His first serve, however, did not let him down in such key moments and he held.
Musetti in turn conceded only one break point in the fourth game after missing a comfortable volley and a smash. He averted danger with his much improved first serve.
The equilibrium was not to be broken and the players cruised along hand in hand, winner after winner, to 6-6.
Berrettini came into the tiebreak as a favourite with his 16-9 record, far more impressive than Musetti’s 11-13.
At 3-3 Berrettini hit out wide one of his favourite shots, his inside out forehand after a powerful first serve. The error turned out to be decisive, for Musetti held his own serves and won the tiebreak 7-5.
In the second set Musetti kept the momentum going and broke immediately. Berrettini was noticeably moving with greater caution. Yet, he valiantly stayed within reach and set up a last break-back threat in the sixth game, when he rose to 15-30. But Musetti hit two winners and went on to assert his lead.
From then on Berrettini seemed disheartened, and in pain. He committed two double faults and lost his service a second time.
Musetti, who admitted feeling emotional on court, did not falter when he served for the match at 5-2 and ended with a flourish, firing from the baseline a backhand half-volley down the line.
“We were both a little tense at the start of the match. In fact we both conceded break points, but we did great to hold. Then the tiebreak was very a very tight battle. In the second set physical prevailed. It was clear that Matteo was struggling due to his foot injury and I’m very sorry for this and I told him how sorry I felt for him,” Musetti said in an on-court interview.
“Winning in my country, before my family who came specially to support me, is a wonderful sensation. It’s a pity to win against an Italian, a friend. I’m going to celebrate with a pizza, of course, here in Naples, but not too enormous, as I’ll be leaving for Basel tomorrow.’
“I know Turin is Mission Impossible but if I were to do very well in Basel and Paris, I could get very close and it would be a great personal satisfaction. Dreams aside, my target is to continue this positive streak with this continuity on court and mental solidity which is helping me to win important matches like this one.”
