For a very long time, Matteo Berrettini was his nation’s sole hope for major success, but that is not the case anymore.
Berrettini was long the Italian number one, before the incredible emergence of Jannik Sinner, as well as Lorenzo Musetti.
The star came close to earning Italy a then-rare Grand Slam win by reaching the final of Wimbledon in 2021.
Berrettini is delighted to see the success of Italian tennis over the years and he believes he knows the reason why it is happening.
Matteo Berrettini states the reason for Italian tennis success
There are currently four Italian men inside the ATP Tour top 20, with Flavio Cobolli and Luciano Darderi joining Sinner and Musetti.
Speaking to Eurosport Italy, Berrettini reflected on his nation’s incredible ATP Tour achievement. He said: “Coming here in the car, I was remembering my first call-up to the Davis Cup.
“It was 2018 and I was the fifth player on the team. I had just broken into the top 100. So, it’s impressive.”
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Berrettini believes the camaraderie between players is one of the key reasons for his nation’s growth in the sport.
“Until a few years ago, there were Fabio [Fognini], Filippo [Volandri], Paolo [Lorenzi], and Andreas [Seppi] who arrived, but never together.
“Having such a strong roster of players now, I think, is partly a generational achievement, but a lot also comes from helping each other and training together.
“I often trained with Muso at Indian Wells, I trained with Darderi in South America, I trained with Flavio, and we’re always in touch.
“Now there are some guys with some physical difficulties, and we feel like role models. There’s a really close relationship that allows us to grow together.”
Sinner is the only current Italian player to win a Grand Slam, with Musetti’s two semi-final appearances marking the closest any other player has come.
What Jannik Sinner thinks about his nation’s incredible achievement
Sinner is far and away the best player from Italy, but he is delighted to see his compatriots performing so well.
The Italian, who won the Davis Cup with Italy in two consecutive years, opened up about his nation’s latest achievement while at the Miami Open.
What would have happened if Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner played at the same time as Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal?
“This is an important moment, and we need to make the most of it,” he said. “There’s a lot of hard work behind the scenes from each player’s team.
“Tennis is an individual sport, so everyone has their own way of training, preparing, and performing on the court. Everyone is finding the right balance, and that’s why we’ve seen so many good results.”
Sinner did not play in last year’s Davis Cup Finals, but Berrettini and Cobolli still managed to capture the win for Italy.
The nation defeated a Spain team which did not feature Carlos Alcaraz due to injury.
