Former two-time Grand Slam champion Nicola Pietrangeli is urging Matteo Berrettini to be more focused on tennis and less on advertising himself. Berrettini, 26, came to the Australian Open hoping to become a Grand Slam but ended up suffering a surprise first-round defeat to Andy Murray.
After the Australian Open, Berrettini’s name was mentioned on the front pages of Italian tabloids due to his reported relationship with Italian TV presenter Melissa Satta. “It seems to me that Matteo is devoting himself more to advertising than to tennis.
I wouldn’t like him to end up like Volandri, who after beating Federer in Rome, didn’t do anything again. He’s a good guy, he reminds me a bit of Pannatta. Very handsome from the waist up, but his legs don’t move as they should,” Pietrangeli told the Gazzetta dello Sport, as revealed on Tennis365.
Pietrangeli on Berrettini, the state of Italian & men’s tennis
Italian tennis has some very talented names in the men’s game – Berrettini, Jannik Sinner and Lorenzo Musetti – but they haven’t had a male Grand Slam champion since Adriano Panatta won the 1976 French Open.
Reflecting on the state of men’s tennis, Pietrangeli believes the more beautiful tennis was being played in the past. Also, Pietrangeli called Sinner “the best Italian at the moment” and described Musetti as “the Italian with the most beautiful tennis.” “The world has changed and tennis too, and it has done it for the worse.
It’s an uglier sport. Before, if you were talented, you had to work physically; now if you’re not a great athlete, you can’t even consider getting on a court. He (Sinner) is the best Italian at the moment, although he has a very different style from mine.
Above all, he has a great advantage, and that is that he seems much more German than Italian. The one I like the most is Lorenzo Musetti, his tennis is the most beautiful,” Pietrangeli explained.
