“I could hear them from my apartment”: Matteo Berrettini recalls painful 2023 injury after emotional win in Monte-Carlo

Matteo Berrettini reflected on the unfortunate injury he suffered at the 2023 Monte-Carlo Masters, which came just after the biggest win of his career over World No. 2 and top seed Alexander Zverev. The Italian has now earned his second consecutive win in Monte-Carlo, the city where he resides, and will face the winner of the all-Czech clash between Jiri Lehecka and his countryman Lorenzo Musetti (13th seed).

The former Wimbledon runner-up has been plagued by injuries in recent seasons, and throughout the past year, he has battled to climb back up the rankings.

Berrettini’s injury at the 2023 Monte-Carlo Masters led to a long spell away from the tour and a sharp drop in the rankings, ending that year as World No. 92. At the beginning of 2024, he was ranked outside the top 150, but consistent results have pushed him up the ladder, currently sitting at World No. 34.

His long nightmare began during the first clay-court Masters 1000 of 2023. Berrettini had defeated Maxime Cressy and Francisco Cerúndolo to reach the third round in Monte-Carlo for the first time in his career. He was due to face Holger Rune for a place in the quarter-finals but had to withdraw due to injury, handing Rune a walkover. The Dane eventually reached the final, where he lost in three sets to Andrey Rublev.

“I have this memory of [two] years ago when I got injured here, and the next day I was in bed, because I couldn't move,” the 28-year-old mentioned. “They were playing on centre court, and I could hear them, like, from my apartment. It was a tough day. It was a tough day.”

“So it was like, now I'm going to enjoy, now I'm going to make them scream for me, and that's why I also found that kind of energy in the third.”

Berrettini didn’t have it easy against Zverev—who continues a concerning losing streak in recent months. The World No. 34 had a break lead in the third set, up 5-3, but allowed Zverev to level things at 5-5. Nonetheless, Berrettini brought out his best tennis to break again and close the match 2-6, 6-3, 7-5.

It was Berrettini’s best career win in terms of opponent ranking, marking his 11th victory over a top-10 player (his sixth against a top-5 opponent). The former World No. 6 credited the passionate support of the home fans: “It's so important for us, for all the Italians. I think it's special. It definitely helped me when, you know, in some moments I also tried to make them even louder. You know, like it gives you energy, especially when you're tired.

“So definitely thanks to them and thanks to their support and support of my team, it was one of the big reasons why I was able to turn the match around,” he added. “I'm really happy, really proud of the way I turned the match around. I wasn't feeling my best in the first set especially, and I have to say that Sascha was playing a really high-level tennis.”

“Yeah, so in order to change and switch the momentum around, I really had to push hard, especially mentally, you know, to tell myself to believe in my strokes and to believe in my tennis and just to enjoy the fight,” Berrettini stated. “That's what I did and what I kept telling myself, especially in the third set when things were a little bit tricky at the end of it," he concluded.