Lorenzo Musetti’s hopes of reaching back-to-back Monte Carlo finals were dispelled on Wednesday by Valentin Vacherot.
Vacherot, a Masters 1000 champion, defeated the Italian world number five 7-5, 7-6 in the Monte Carlo Masters second round.
Consequently, Musetti is set to lose 650 ATP ranking points and fall to the world number nine spot.
The Italian, who was playing his first match since suffering an unfortunate injury in the Australian Open quarter-finals, admitted afterwards that he needs to play more matches on clay.
Musetti could have the perfect opportunity to do so later this month.
Lorenzo Musetti should enter the Cagliari Challenger
On Tuesday, the Cagliari 175 Challenger released the entry list for their upcoming event.
Surprisingly, a number of top 50 ATP players have entered the event, including Flavio Cobolli, Luciano Darderi and Tomas Martin Etcheverry.
Who was the biggest shock exit in the second round of the Monte Carlo Masters?
Lorenzo Musetti, Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev, and Flavio Cobolli all lost!
Jaume Munar has also entered the event, as has Sebastian Baez and Cincinnati Open semi-finalist Terence Atmane.
After losing in Monte Carlo, Lorenzo Musetti admitted that he needs to play more tennis matches – an issue he could mitigate by taking part in Cagliari.
“I expected to perform at the level of last year because in training I had had very good feelings,” he said after Wednesday’s loss.
“However, it has become clear to me that the fact of having played few games in recent months influences a lot. I find it difficult to maintain concentration in tense moments, I did not know how to impose my tennis in a tiebreak that I had in favour.
“I have a lot to reproach myself for the serve, I should have been more aggressive on the right and I was unable to control the game as I wanted.
“I definitely need to play more games.”
After making this admission, Musetti should make the bold decision to enter the Challenger event in Cagliari – simply to give himself more match practice on the clay, should he suffer an early exit in Spain.
Lorenzo Musetti’s reaction to suffering an injury in the 2025 Monte Carlo final
Last year, Musetti enjoyed an excellent campaign in Monaco, reaching the final before losing to Carlos Alcaraz.
Musetti led Alcaraz in the championship showpiece, but an unfortunate injury hampered the Italian’s progress and Alcaraz eventually won the contest 3-6, 6-1, 6-0.
Speaking about the injury during his post-match press conference, Musetti said: “We still don’t know yet exactly [what the injury was], but of course we gonna do some exams in the next days. The thing is that, as you probably saw, I couldn’t, you know, finish the match properly, but, you know, in a final, I didn’t want to retire.
“It was probably the best way to finish, even if I was not able, you know, to play anymore. And, yeah, that’s it. Probably, you know, the toughness of the long week and the long matches that I played, at the end it cost me a little bit today.
“I mean, yeah, of course [it’s a huge frustration ‘, especially after the first set, which I played probably my best tennis, and of course I was feeling the ball really well today. I had a clear mind what I had to do.
“But physically I was struggling. You know, from the beginning I was trying to compensate a little bit with, you know, with the freedom, you know, to play.
“At the end, as I said before, you know, the physical problems and the fatigue and all the, let’s say, stress accumulated in the past days, past matches, you know, they were there.
“So unfortunately I couldn’t, you know, finish the match. I mean, I couldn’t, let’s say, fight till the end.”
