Matteo Berrettini has dismissed injury concerns ahead of his Rome opener against Jacob Fearnley.
The Italian has had a decent start to the season but plans were derailed when he withdrew from his third round match with Jack Draper last week.
It’s been a theme of Berrettini’s career as he has struggled to remain constantly fit in what could have been a highly successful career filled with Grand Slam glory.
However, heading into his opening round match in Rome Berrettini dismissed injury concerns and spoke about the home support he will receive, “I’m feeling good,” Berrettini was quoted by tennisuptodate.com as saying.
“I worked hard to be able to play here. Luckily, I play on Saturday, so I still have a few days to train. After Madrid, I rested to recover from the abdominal injury. I’m truly happy to be back playing here: I admit that after Madrid, the ghosts of previous years started to reappear. With my team, I tried not to let myself get down too much.
“In my career, victories matter less than the emotions. I’m hoping for some special ones this week. Actually, I’m quite sure I will feel them: I was born here and I have a lot of friends who’ll be cheering from the stands. The opponent doesn’t matter, because first and foremost I need to respect myself: I have to be at my best and step on court to win.”
Surprisingly Berrettini doesn’t have the best record in Rome as he has won 7 of his 12 matches in the Italian city.
The former Wimbledon finalist’s best result is a quarter-final outing in 2020 where he lost to Casper Ruud.
Berrettini’s opening match will be against Jacob Fearnley.
