Matteo Berrettini Reveals Keys to Disconnect During Darkest Moments After Reaching Roland Garros Quarters

Matteo Berrettini made history at the Roland Garros on Monday (June 1) as he became the lowest-ranked player to reach the quarter-finals of the Roland Garros since Igor Andreev in 2007. The Italian sits outside the Top 100 in the men’s rankings and was never expected to reach the competition stage. However, amid adversity, he has prevailed at Roland Garros.

The last time Berrettini reached a quarter-final at a Grand Slam tournament was in 2022 at the US Open in New York. And since then, he had missed six of the last 13 major tournaments due to injury. Injury has plagued the former Davis Cup winner’s career, and even this season, he was forced to withdraw from tournaments due to it.

After reaching the final of the 2021 Wimbledon Championship, he climbed to a career-high ranking of No.6 in the world, but currently, he has slipped to No.105 due to injuries and fitness problems. He was expected to make it to just the second round before crashing out, but surprisingly, he had four consecutive matches.

He had defeated Marton Fucsovics, French star Ugo Humbert, and Francisco Comesana, and on Monday (June 1) faced Jannik Sinner’s conqueror, Juan Manuel Cerundolo, where he produced his most convincing performance of the tournament. He controlled key moments of the match against Cerundolo, marking it as his most authoritative victory of the campaign so far.

He beat the Argentine star 6-3, 7-6(2), 7-6(6) to reach the quarter-finals of the French Open. He’s one of the three Italians in the last eight, and this is the first time this has happened in the Open Era, despite World No.1 Sinner exiting in the second round. Berrettini revealed during his media interview that he had a psychological reset after difficult months on and off the court:

It helped me understand that the world keeps functioning regardless of whether I win or lose a tennis match. That relieved some pressure and allowed me to put many things into perspective. It also reminded me of the break I had last summer. During that time, I realized that the circuit was moving forward without me, that no one was dying because I wasn’t competing. That sensation helped me relieve some of the pressure I constantly put on myself.

Berrettini has a chance of winning Roland Garros. He and Alexander Zverev are the only players who have reached the final of a Grand Slam, and that kind of experience is valuable at this stage of the tournament. He’s on the brink of making history at the Roland Garros by becoming the lowest-ranked player to win the championship in the Open Era.

Matteo Berrettini admits his love for tennis after fourth-round win at Roland Garros

Before the French Open, the last time Matteo Berrettini played with so much confidence on tour was at the Monte Carlo Masters, where he swept aside former World No.1 Daniil Medvedev 6-0, 6-0 in the first round. He went on to reach the round of 16 of the tournament before losing to Joao Fonseca. That was the start of something that finally clicked at the Roland Garros.

He will face his fellow compatriot Matteo Arnaldi in the quarter-finals of the Roland Garros. This will be the first meeting between the duo, despite having played against each other for years on the court. Nonetheless, Berrettini is the favorite to win the clash. During the aforementioned press conference, he admitted that tennis is the love of his life:

[Tennis] is the love of my life, if it wasn’t I wouldn’t be here. After all the setbacks, all the injuries, all the bad moments, I came back once again. There were moments where it was really tough to come back and play, because I wasn’t ready and I wasn’t sure about my confidence – now I feel great.

Berrettini must be worried about Arnaldi, who has come from a set down in the past two rounds to win his matches. On Monday (June 1), he battled hard to beat American star Frances Tiafoe 7-6(5), 6(5)-7, 3-6, 7-6(3), 6-4, after converting three match points to complete the remarkable comeback.

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