Matteo Berrettini’s path at the Australian Open 2023 was interrupted in the first round. The Italian tennis player was defeated by Andy Murray in the fifth set super tie-break in a battle that lasted almost five hours of the game.
The Italian has always managed to overcome the negative moments and will try to come back stronger than before in the next tournaments. “Melbourne… the journey was short and not sweet at all.
But, as always, I will learn my lesson and come back stronger than before. Thanks for all the support and all the kind messages. I am excited to be back on the court and compete again soon,” Berrettini wrote on his Instagram account.
The false start heavily penalized the blue, who found himself down by two sets, collecting a double 6-3. Berrettini’s reaction was not long in coming: point after point, the 26-year-old built all the conditions to hope for a comeback.
Matteo Berrettini was eliminated in Melbourne by Andy Murray
The Italian, in the final part of the fifth set, got himself a precious match point which he nullified by sending a comfortable backhand into the net. Murray made all his experience count and flexed his muscles in the final super tie-break, which ended with the score 10-6.
The former world number one then made a sensational comeback from Thanasi Kokkinakis in the second round in what became the second longest match in Australian Open history and the third to finish beyond 4am.
Considering the semifinal reached last year in Melbourne and the numerous points he will lose in the standings, Berrettini will exit the top 20 after three and a half years.
The Italian tennis star still doesn’t know what the next tournament he will participate in will be, but the feeling is that he will take the field before the American away match and the Masters 1000 in Indian Wells and Miami. Berrettini will have to be good at managing this delicate moment and climb the rankings to reach the positions to which he belongs again.
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