Day 11 Under the lights: Berrettini 'pumped, happy and ready to compete'

They have never played before, which is hardly surprising. As Matteo Arnaldi has been making his way up, Matteo Berrettini has been dealing with a catalogue of injury issues. Almost from the moment he reached the Wimbledon final in 2021, his body started to let him down and the road back has been long and full of potholes. As a result, Berrettini has greeted every victory in the past 11 days with joy and, sometimes, with tears. His run here means the world to him.

“It does make it sweeter, because I actually remember now how sad I was,” he said. “I'm not surprised, but I just proved to myself that I could do it, that even in the toughest moment I just found the energy.

"I was lucky enough to have people around me that helped me to find the kind of energy, to find the positive vibes, the positive thoughts, which is not easy to find when you're in the darkness a little bit, when things are not coming your way and you're struggling just to hit a few balls or just struggling to compete.”

Now, finally, his body feels fine and he has come to the conclusion that losing from time to time is an occupational hazard for any athlete; it is not the end of the world. Together with the understanding that, at the age of 30, his body is a bit battered and bruised but still able to crack his serve and wallop his forehand, it has given him the belief that he can still be a very good player. And he has spent the past week and a half proving it.

Arnaldi, too, has had his physical issues. A foot injury picked up in Australia at the start of the year has taken months to clear. Even days before this tournament started, he was still not able to train flat out but, oh boy, has he been making up for it ever since. His last match took five hours and 26 minutes and, in all, he has spent 17 hours and 42 minutes getting through the last four rounds. No man has taken longer since the ATP’s records began.

With Berrettini’s new, positive approach to life and Arnaldi’s weary legs, the big man from Rome looks to be the favourite. This is what Berrettini has waited and worked for: he is part of it all again.

“That's why I feel like this,” Berrettini said, “because from the very first point until the last, I was there, I was enjoying, I was talking good to myself. This is what tennis means for me, being pumped, happy and ready to compete.”

No wonder Italy is happy again.