The return of SoneGOAT

The Italian hasn’t played since the Australian Open because of a wrist injury!

An injury that dragged on a bit unfortunately, he had planned a return in Rio but had to push it back several times. The start of the year was too quick to draw any conclusions, he finished the 2025 indoor season well as he often does, but I didn’t find him outstanding over the whole of last season. For his return to competition he’s playing this tournament in Barcelona where he’s only played once. Slow conditions that I don’t really like for him, I prefer when he can get his serve/forehand going. His physical condition isn’t reliable in long matches either, he often cramps and with a lack of match rhythm and no competition, I wouldn’t be surprised if after 2 hours he’s already pretty worn down.

That’s Martinez’s mission: make him play, keep the errors down, and keep targeting Sonego’s backhand. The Spaniard has been dealing with an injury for a few weeks but it seems to be behind him now, it was already much better in Monte Carlo in qualifying and he’s confirmed that by qualifying at home. A win over Carreno (not at 100%) and Trungelliti, it’s a good start but he’ll need a bit more. The draw is really nice and we can count on him to be ultra focused, it’s a great opportunity.

Only their second meeting, Martinez won last year’s one in Monte Carlo on already slow clay, 3 sets but the match dynamics were completely in Martinez’s favor; he mainly just lacked ruthlessness. On clay that’s just as slow and with the advantage of being properly match-fit compared to Sonego who’s just coming back, I think we’re going to have to go for it!