Berrettini also beats Tourte, all precedents between the two

It was hot for Matteo Berrettini. And not only from a meteorological point of view, after 5 hours and 13 minutes of battle against Francisco Comesana. The emotion, the joy, almost a few tears for the blue, who returns to the round of 16 in a Slam, are forms of incredible emotional warmth. Only one passage of this historic afternoon was cloaked in a moment of coldness: that of the greeting with the referee, Aurelie Tourte. Matteo obviously shook hands with the French race director, but voluntarily avoided meeting his gaze. Due to some rewatchable episodes in the fifth set. A lack of iron fist from Tourte, which leaves the Italian player perplexed: Comesana in fact returns to the locker room halfway through due to stomach problems (“he’s about to get it on himself”, says the physiotherapist), asking for a medical timeout. After that, however, he had already stopped twice to go to the bathroom. Matteo’s complaints are therefore fair, with Tourte washing his hands of them, sending the responsibility back to the supervisor.

precedents

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Things ended in the best way, but it is good to remember what happened in the third game of the fifth set. Ahead 0-15, there is a first shot probably put out by Comesana, which the referee however judges to be good. Irritating Berrettini, who almost doesn’t believe it, and finds himself at 15-15 rather than 0-30 on a decidedly dubious ball. But the coldness at the end of the match is also due to a precedent, in Rome against Popyrin. At the beginning of the second set the mechanism that signals whether the net has been touched or not had come loose, falling onto the court on the break point for the blue. A point in his control, made to repeat. In a game then won comfortably by the Australian, with serves. In that case Matteo had also come down hard on Tourte, protesting vigorously. And, even though he overlooked the episode with the statements, his frustration was clear. As was clear today too. A less than idyllic relationship with the Italians for the French referee.

sinner

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In fact, Aurelie Tourte, in addition to refereeing the match the other day against Cerundolo, which was very badly managed at the time of Jannik’s physical problems, has also in the past been the protagonist of revisable episodes in the matches of the world no.1. One is very recent, the semi-final in Rome against Medvedev. Under the pouring rain, which had emptied the stands of the Centrale in the Rome evening, the match director was letting the match be played as if nothing had happened, rather than interrupting it. It took vehement protests from Sinner to get the suspension, just before the rain got even heavier on the Foro Italico. In Monte Carlo in 2024, however, it was beautiful sunshine. Which, however, was not enough to see how long Tsitsipas’ second set was in the third set of the semi-final against the South Tyrolean. A double fault that would have sent the blue player, who ended up losing, also due to tiredness, ahead by two breaks in the decisive part. Again, a superficial decision by Aurelie Tourte. Who, when he referees Italian tennis players, rarely manages to behave in the best way. Despite being a highly experienced referee in any case. Despite everything, however, Matteo Berrettini can celebrate the round of 16. Stronger than anything, in the battle of Mathieu.