Wimbledon: Matteo Berrettini meets expectations to reach the final he couldn’t even dream of

Matteo Berrettini was expected to reach the final of Wimbledon this time around.

The 25-year-old Italian is on an unbeaten run (11 so far) on grass winning, the warm-up event at Queen’s Club in London – his first ATP 500 title. Despite the grass season being cancelled last year, he had a 23-2 record on the surface since 2019. With his booming serve and big forehand strikes and bankable backhand slices, he had the primary weapons to shine on the surface. On the London grasscourts in 2021, he was playing with the freedom and flair of someone 6ft 5in, with a fastest recorded serve of 235 kmph.

But in this era of men’s tennis, expectation is often a millstone for players not part of the Big Four. Berrettini wanted to be so removed from this pressure that he didn’t even want to dream of reaching his first Grand Slam final at Wimbledon till it happened. And as fate would have it, it has happened. The eighth seed beat Hubert Hurkacz, who had knocked out Roger Federer in the quarter-finals, 6-3, 6-0, 6-7 (3/7), 6-4 to reach his first Major final, at Wimbledon, on a surface most tennis followers expected him to.

“I never dreamed…

Read more