Berrettini, Musetti emerge as a force as Challengers reshape Italy’s tennis landscape

Express News Service

CHENNAI: June 7, 2021. A baby-faced Lorenzo Musetti is scything through the defences of Novak Djokovic on the red clay in Paris. What started out as a routine fourth-round match becomes must-watch TV. Even if the end result is heart-breaking — the 19-year-old retires with injury in the fifth set — he has showcased his potential. What Musetti also did that Monday evening was again shine a light on the recent successes of the Italian Tennis Federation.

Here was a system that had begun producing elite tennis players like it was the easiest thing in the world and Musetti was its latest example. A month after Musetti came Matteo Berrettini’s run to the final of Wimbledon. Berrettini had become the first Italian man in 45 years to reach a Slam final. The development was also holistic in nature, it wasn’t just that the country had stumbled on one or two once-in-a-generation players.

Check this. In the beginning of 2018, the country had four players in the top 100, all of them aged 26 or above. At the start of 2022? They have eight in the top 100, with three of them 25 or under. Musetti is of course the youngest of the lot and he’s very quick to credit the federation for this transformation. “We are one of the best countries in the world (with regards to tennis),” he says. “I’m very proud to be part of it. Think the federation did good work.”

What’s the kind of work the federation is doing? The answer lies in the number of Challengers and ITF World Tour events they are conducting on a yearly basis. Since the beginning of 2017, they have hosted 95 Challengers (for context, India have hosted 19 of these since 2013). When you host Challengers — the second rung of the ATP Tour — it automatically acts as a pathway to give upcoming players a platform to improve their ranking and give them a stage to perform without travelling overseas. It also gives them the experience of playing against veterans on the tour at a relatively early stage in their development process (as hosts, the Italian federation also have the capacity to give up to four wildcards to players from Italy).

Both Lorenzo Sonego and Berrettini came to prominence as they won home Challengers in 2017 before spring-boarding their way into the top 100 in subsequent years. In 2019, it was the turn of Jannik Sinner and Musetti himself to use the Challengers at home as a sort of exercise to win enough ranking points before jumping up a level to play in tour-level events. So it’s no surprise to see Musetti, the No 2 seed at the Pune Open, saying ‘we are one of the top countries when it comes to hosting Challengers’. “When a player is coming through the juniors, he has step in the world of Challengers. I went through (that). It’s very helpful for the younger players.”

In the three months between February and April 2022, Italy is scheduled to host nine more Challengers. For the five players aged 21 or below in the rankings between 190 and 400, those tournaments will continue to offer priceless ranking points to further their education. And don’t be surprised if one of them becomes the next Sinner.  

Beginning of Year   Top 100    Age 25 or

2018   4   0
2019   5   1
2020   8   2
2021   7   2
2022   8   3