Matteo Berrettini

Matteo Berrettini is the 6-foot-5 Roman who, for a stretch around the turn of the decade, was Italian tennis's biggest hitter and its breakthrough name. Born in Rome in April 1996, he grew up in a tennis-obsessed family and was talked back into the game at age eight by his younger brother Jacopo, now a pro himself. He turned professional in 2015, ground through the ITF and Challenger circuits, and broke into the top 100 in May 2018. Two months later he lifted his maiden tour title in Gstaad — the first of several clay trophies that, alongside his grass pedigree, made him surface-agnostic.

The game is built on two weapons. At 1.96 m, Berrettini owns one of the tour's fastest serves and leans on a heavy topspin forehand to dictate rallies and set up one-two punches, a style that travels across surfaces. The backhand and movement are the soft spots top opponents probe — his record against players ranked top-10 at the time sits at 12–31. On grass, though, the math flips: the serve-forehand combination is at its most lethal on the lawns.

His résumé peaked fast. A 2019 US Open semifinal run announced him and closed the year inside the top 10. Then came 2021: a Madrid final loss to Alexander Zverev, a Queen's Club title, and a run to the Wimbledon final — the first by an Italian man. He fell to Novak Djokovic in four sets. A 2022 Australian Open semifinal lifted him to a career-high World No. 6.

Then the body broke down. Injuries dragged his ranking down sharply across the seasons that followed. But the grit remains: he went undefeated in his rubbers as Italy won the Davis Cup in 2024 and 2025. Now ranked 48, he's chasing a deep clay run again — including a 2026 Roland-Garros quarterfinal effort, his first major QF since 2022.