Berrettini is in the semifinal of the Australian Open: now there is Nadal

The black man exists. He is a gentle giant who has a mighty arm and a huge heart. His name is Matteo Berrettini and today dressed in total black, in an incredible match, grabbed when everything seemed lost, he beat Gael Monfils in 5 sets 6-4 6-4 3-6 3-6 6-2 reaching the third semifinal of a Grand Slam career.

Now there is Rafa

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It was the remake of the quarter-final at the Us Open 2019, a battle that lasted three and a half hours and won by ours, at the first experience on a big stage. “This time it will be different, I have grown, matured”, said the Roman before the battle. And in fact, in the first two sets he is in charge, a match that seems almost a formality. Until the middle of the third set, when Berrettini has a decline, he suffers a break and the void opens up under his feet. A void that swallows him, sucks his physical and mental energies and leads him one step away from defeat. But the difference between a good player and a champion is all in that step, which Matteo takes, but backwards. Saving himself from the abyss. Now another dejà vu: the semifinal against Rafa Nadal, just like then, in 2019. The Majorcan also comes from a long battle of 4 hours in five sets with Shapovalov, he has a bruised foot, but he is still the champion of 20 Slam titles , one of the largest ever.

The match

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First set that starts in balance until Berrettini’s first tear in the 5th game of the first set. A double fault, a forehand error and the hammer: 3 break points arrive and the Roman does not waste them by moving forward 3-2. He continues to push and press the Roman, but Monfils manages to contain his attacks. He also has a ball for the counterbreak, the Frenchman, but Berrettini with head and arm closes the set 6-4. Second set that opens with a very aggressive cap that tries to break through the French lines immediately. He has a break point but doesn’t use it in the first game.

Berretto’s serve drops, the fourth game becomes interminable. Monfils goes 0-30 on the service of the Italian number 1. The forehand of the French comes out and the Roman halves the disadvantage. At 15-30 a second too soft gives Gael two chances for the break. Cancel the first Matteo, with a beautiful straight winner. Serve and volley to cancel the second break point, but a forehand mistake gives the Frenchman another break point. Ace number 6 arrives to get him out of trouble, but he still goes to the advantages thanks to too many inaccuracies of the Roman. It’s a very tiring game, with Monfils not wanting to give up. After 12 and a half minutes a spectacular recovery by LaMonf brings the game to the sixth draw. It’s a grueling tug of war. We also put the ribbon to go to the eighth tie. After 3 saved break points and over 20 minutes, Berrettini manages to keep the serve. The arm wrestling continues but Matteo’s key word, “patience”, bears fruit: the break in the fateful 7th game arrives and Berrettini climbs to 4-3, also closing the 2nd set 6-4. In the third set, Berrettini has 3 break points in the 3rd game but fails to realize the advantage. In the next game, on the other hand, it is Monfils who presses 0-30 on the Roman’s serve. Matteo comes back 30-30, the Frenchman gets the break point. A deep breath, three bombshells, and the Hammer of Italy holds the bar.

The breakdown

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But the sports drama is just around the corner: Matteo loses his serve in the 7th game and in a moment he gives up the set with a score of 6-3. It’s not over, you have to suffer, as often happens against the French fighter, revitalized by the union with his colleague Elina Svitolina. In the opening of the fourth set Berrettini gets back from 40-0 and must already cancel a break point. He finds three winning serves and is saved. But the moment is all for Monfils, who finds a way to snatch Berrettini’s joke in the fifth game and climbs 3-2. Matteo moves badly, answers badly, the joke doesn’t work. He signals that his legs are not supporting him and his body language does not tell anything new either. He fails to keep the exchange cap, which also yields the fourth set 6-3 with another break. He has completely run out of petrol, the Roman, who has to play everything to the fifth, as with Alcaraz. But this time the conditions are very different. Ours has no more, he is disheartened, and the other seems ravaged.

The rebirth

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A break in the locker room, for the blue, who returns to the field and snatches the joke from the French. An advantage that pushes him more than any supplement, puts the focus back on his arm and legs. This time it is the French who stiffens and suffers a second break for the 3-0 of ours. Which becomes a 4-1, then a 5-1. Then a semifinal, against Rafa Nadal. The dream continues.

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