Time.news – Matteo Berrettini is alive and if at the moment he is not fighting with us it is only because he is being treated. But there is good news: the abdominal muscle injury that forced him to retire in Rio “is not a tear” as transpired by the tennis player’s entourage. In other words, it is not analogous to what last year in Australia forced him to two months of competitive inactivity. Which means that, if the recovery he is undergoing continues with the positive results he has achieved in recent days, Matteo could also return to Indian Wells in the middle of next week. Given that most assumed a stop at least up to Monte Carlo, this is very good news.
But what did Matteo do to himself? Three injuries in the same area of the body in thirteen months raise some questions. In Australia the lesion was there and also clear: about two centimeters of tear. Among other things, in an area that a tennis player with the physical structure of Matteo puts under constant pressure. The real critical area of Matteo’s body are the ankles: it is possible that his movements (the forehand in particular which is, with the serve, the fulcrum of his game) somehow “compensate” for that fragility by subjecting other areas, such as the abdomen, at above average stress.
© THIAGO RIBEIRO / AGIF / AGIF VIA AFP
Matteo Berrettini
Those muscles retain the memory of the injury and at will they go into alarm causing that pain, similar to that of Rio, which Matteo had already warned in Turin during the Finals, an injury that forced him into the pits for a month and a half. And in front of a pain like this, the player can do nothing but stop to avoid worse troubles.
This time it seems that he did better even than in Turin. But what are the solutions for the future? It is unrealistic to think that the Italian modifies his game in a substantial way. It is not that Matteo’s reverse will become that of Wawrinka within a few months, so the straight-serve combination will remain fundamental for him. A further overall strengthening will be studied, that’s for sure. And in the meantime we can hope that Matteo’s abdominals get used to their condition, forgetting the wound; and it can be assumed, if this does not happen, that ours will have to plan a less busy season in the future. But it is too early to speculate.