Time.news – The devastating serve, the unforgiving forehand, the first Italian finalist at Wimbledon, the first in the semifinal at the Australian Open and, now, the number 6 in the world ranking. And so far everything falls within the “good”, the first of the adjectives used by Amadeus to explain why he wanted Matteo Berrettini in Sanremo. The key to understanding why two years later Djokovic will have to go to the Ariston stage, however, lies in the other three (“beautiful, loved, nice”) who have to do with tennis up to a certain point.
Let’s start with the beauty: everyone likes Matteo (last night it was a trend topic on Twitter) but above all everyone with the chirping “framed him in a fixed American plan for eight minutes would be fine by me” which says a lot about the impact of his beauty. His 95 kilos expertly distributed over 1.96 in height and above all his smile are idolized on Facebook by a dedicated group “50 shades of Berrettini” which defines him with close-ups and photos without a shirt ‘the eighth wonder of Rome“, And on the social bulletin boards of the many that enhance his face, curls, shoulders or that point out his resemblance to Vittorio Gassmann as a young man, to say that if he hadn’t come across tennis Matteo would not have disfigured at the cinema, in tv or on the catwalk.
Mario Draghi, Matteo Berrettini and Vincenzo Santopadre
And it is no coincidence that he is the champion with whom the fashion brand Hugo Boss has just chosen to land in the world of tennis, with a dedicated capsule (and a millionaire contract that adds up to the nine million dollars earned on the court in his career). Are your fans all young? For nothing. Berrettini is certainly the son that everyone would like to have (or the boyfriend that mothers dream of for their daughter) but peeking here and there the social networks we understand that many inspire thoughts that are not exactly maternal, a bit like Damiano dei Maneskin, just for remain in the Sanremo area.
The 25-year-old Italian tennis frontman, however, is less divisive than the rocker, surrounded by a collective affection scratched only by a few raised eyebrows for his residence in Monte Carlo, certainly not a novelty among professional sportsmen. Berrettini is “loved” (the third adjective of Amadeus) because he represents a beautiful Italy, for good and above all who loves in turn what in Italy is a totem, that is the family, in his case the natural and the de facto one.
On the one hand, father Luca, mother Claudia who gave him the pendant with a compass rose that he always keeps around his neck and puts on the chair on the pitch when he plays (“it’s a way to have my family always with me”), the visceral love for his tennis brother Jacopo, with his date of birth tattooed on his bicep, the one for the Brazilian grandmother often mentioned in her interviews. On the other hand, the second family, the one represented by his team, with whom he travels the world, headed by Vincenzo Santopadre, according to dad also in the name.
© Adrian DENNIS / AFP
Matteo Berrettini, Wimbledon
The fact that Matteo is not a womanizer further increases his popularity index. In the sentimental curriculum of the good guy there are only Lavinia, the ex-girlfriend from high school and now Ajla Tomljanovic, a Croatian naturalized Australian who lives in Florida, in Boca Raton, with her parents and her sister, the third family from which Berrettini passed the hardest moments of the pandemic and that this Christmas (it is at Christmas that the important choices are always made) presented to his followers.
It’s still: Berrettini embodies resilience qualities in which Italy reflects itself, fights with his physical frailties and got back on the saddle with determination after the injury at the Finals in Turin (does he remind you of Nadal?) He is correct on the pitch, authoritative without being authoritarian, willing to recognize the superiority of those who beat him (“Rafa is a great inspiration to me because I keep learning from the best”).
© KENA BETANCUR / AFP
Matteo Berrettini
A Don Matteo from tennis? But luckily no. It is true that Berrettini is a bit of the Gianni Morandi in the tennis version that everyone and everyone likes but there is no danger that he will end up like him imitated by Fiorello in Viva Radio 2 with the “eternal bastard of Monghidoro” who enjoyed himself to invest the old ladies as opposed to the image of an eternal good boy.
Because Matteo, when he needs it, can also be bad: he is someone who does it when he has to say something (“I can’t hear you !!!” when he showed off winners against Monfils, directed at the Melbourne audience cheering against him, and ” here among you there are people who do not like tennis ”in the post match interview) and also quite nice (the last of Amadeus’ adjectives). A joke above all, that “thank you” to the anti-stomach ache medicine that had allowed him to save the match, written on the camera after the victory in the first round. And if by chance tonight it turns out that she can sing too, well then there won’t be any more for anyone.