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Matteo Berrettini has had a good season so far. He started the year by reaching his first semifinal at the Australian Open, where he lost 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 to eventual winner Rafael Nadal. After a last 16 loss at Indian Wells, he underwent surgery on his right hand in late March, which forced him to miss the entire clay season.
Berrettini made a strong comeback during the grass swing. He beat Radu Albot, Lorenzo Sonego, Oscar Otte and Andy Murray en route to the Boss Open in Stuttgart. He then defeated Dan Evans, Denis Kudla, Tommy Paul, Botic van de Zandschulp and Filip Krajinovic to successfully defend his Queen's Club Championships title.
The Italian, who reached his maiden Grand Slam final at Wimbledon last year, is currently on a nine-match winning streak and is a strong contender for the title at SW19 this year. Former American player and 22-time Grand Slam doubles champion Pam Shriver, in an interview with PICKSWISE, said that Matteo Berrettini is the third favourite for the Wimbledon title.
“He would probably be my third pick behind Djokovic and Nadal. To have an injury and be out for so long, the timing was perfect for his comeback on his favorite surface. To win back-to-back titles was a great achievement, I think he looked at what Nadal did after a long break and Federer after injury in 2017. Those kinds of results set a great example for players coming back from a layoff, it shows that anything is possible,” Shriver said.
Berrettini has proven himself to be a very strong player on grasscourt, and former World No. 3 Shriver explained why he has performed so well on the surface.
“His serve and forehand, in that order, those two weapons on grass are as good as there are in the men’s game. He likes to hit the backhand slice and while that stays low, his forehand then dictates the play,” Shriver said.
“He is certainly a contender and he’d be a popular winner because Wimbledon hasn’t had a men’s champion outside the big four since Lleyton Hewitt in 2002. This major is a tough one for outsiders, alongside Roland Garros of course after all of Nadal’s success there,” she added.
3 defeats and 4 titles in 32 matches since 2019: Matteo Berrettini’s impressive record on grass
Matteo Berrettini has an impressive record on grasscourts. He won the 2019 Stuttgart Open title without having his serve broken throughout.
He later made it to the semifinals of the Halle Open before reaching the fourth round of Wimbledon, where he lost to Roger Federer. Since 2019, he has won 32 matches and lost only three matches on grass courts and has won four out of seven titles on grass.
After winning the Boss Open and defending his Queen’s Club title in the lead-up to Wimbledon this year, Berrettini is unsurprisingly one of the favourites to win SW19. He is seeded eighth at Wimbledon this year and is scheduled to lock horns with World No. 44 Cristian Garin in the first round.
While his campaign last year ended with a 6–7(4), 6–4, 6–4, 6–3 defeat to Serbian Novak Djokovic in the title clash, Matteo Berrettini will be gunning to go a step further this time around.
