Lorenzo Musetti is showing remarkable steps forward in the last part of the season on hard courts, showing many improvements in his fascinating game. Also in view of the future, the blue is now called to a rather demanding and not at all obvious task: to win the Next Gen ATPFinals to respect the prediction of the eve that finds him among the great favorites, given the last minute absence of the Dane Holger Rune.
The Italian got off to a good start on Tuesday, beating the Taiwanese Tseng in three sets and immediately moving his ranking in the red group. The native of Carrara analyzed the debut in Milan at a press conference.
He told: “For me it was undoubtedly a better debut than in 2021. I’m happy because I played a great match, with one break per set that made the difference. I am also happy for the public, for the nice atmosphere and for the many children who came to see me.”
Lorenzo Musetti: “My mentality has changed”
The talented 20-year-old commented on Fabio Fognini’s presence at the event, expressing some observations on the approach of the Davis Cup: “Fabio told me he would come, we are very friends. We are sharing some good times besides tennis. Davis? It is an event that we are all waiting for now, we have a team that is fully competitive with all of them. We are a good group and we will try.”
On possible improvements of the format, given the many young athletes who are having success in the Tour, he said “It doesn’t make much sense to talk about age, if one is good at overcoming this obstacle it is his merit and he must demonstrate that he can do it. Sinner and Alcaraz won when they were 18. Rune, who forfeited, has 19. Maybe a ranking limit would make more sense.”
Then he remarked, sending out a signal: “Nobody can say that word (win) for sure, but that’s the way it is in every tournament. My mentality has changed and now the goal I set myself is always to get to the bottom, already from Australia at the beginning of 2022 it was like this. I think this Next Gen format tends to flatten the level a bit, the goal is to know how to adapt.”