Berrettini is ramping up!

The Italian is starting to win more and more matches, and the conditions are incredible for him this week!

Berrettini says it clearly: his decision to come to Santiago was purely because it’s at altitude! And with his quality of serve, especially his massive kick serve and his forehand, he’s supposed to do some serious damage this week. His tournament in Rio was a bit better than in Buenos Aires, he won two matches and I found him less quickly exhausted physically, the rhythm is coming back little by little. This is the kind of tournament where he can go very deep this week, his draw is honestly fine, he can aim for a nice quarter against Cerundolo. This first round will set the tone anyway, and it’ll be against Nava.

The American is in the process of blowing his Golden Swing, even though last year he played a lot of challengers in South America; the level is just a notch higher and he’s noticing it. Losing to Navone and Tabilo, though, we’re not talking about average guys, those are genuinely strong players, so I put it a bit into perspective! The problem is he took two beatdowns and kept getting mad… I picture him a bit more motivated/dangerous this week because for him too these are good conditions, his high‑risk game with a big serve can clearly work in Santiago. I’d even say that if he finds his tennis, he’s a really annoying dark horse in this tournament. Now that that’s said, we’ll have to see what we can actually do with all that, but I still struggle to see Berrettini losing this match given his better mental management.