Berrettini: I Was Like A Child Dreaming Saying 'I Want To Go To The Moon'

Matteo Berrettini is well accustomed to taking on the world’s best players on some of the most iconic courts in the world. Yet even after lifting seven ATP Tour titles, surging to a career-high No. 6 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings and reaching a Grand Slam final at Wimbledon, the Italian sometimes still wonders how it all came about.

“My whole family plays tennis. They always told me, ‘Do what you love, and give your best’,” Berrettini said recently in an interview with the ATP Tour. “Growing up, I never thought about it. I was dreaming about playing maybe [in] Rome, [but] I was more like a child that is dreaming and saying, ‘I want to go to the moon’… And then it happened. Everything [happened] so fast.”

Netflix’s Break Point followed Berrettini’s stellar run to the semi-finals at the 2022 Australian Open in the second episode. Despite that Melbourne campaign ultimately ending in disappointment with a four-set defeat to legend Rafael Nadal, the 26-year-old remains grateful for every experience he has in his life as a pro. Berrettini believes that the more he gives, the more he gets back, no matter the result on court.

“It teaches you a lot about who you are,” said Berrettini of competing on the ATP Tour. “[When] I was a kid, I had idols. I want to be one of those players. I would like to have kids that are looking and are like, ‘I’m going to decide to play tennis or I’m going to improve this thing because I saw that Matteo is doing it’.

“When you think about that stuff, you just think that it’s worth it.”

[BREAK POINT]