Musetti's Milestone Win: "I Am Expecting This"
Lorenzo Musetti concedes the high of notching his first Top 10 victory may not subside in a hurry. Not done with his first tour-level hard-court victory in an upset of Diego Schwartzman on Tuesday night, the 19-year-old plans to ride that momentum in his Acapulco debut.
“Yeah I am expecting this,” Musetti said of beating Schwartzman in his Abierto Mexicano Telcel presentado por HSBC debut. “I was born on clay. [In Italy] most of the courts are on clay so we are specialists of clay, [but] the ATP Tour, most of the tournaments are on hard courts. And even losing a lot of matches on hard courts, I’m getting a lot of experience and I’m playing really good here.
Despite having grown up honing his skills predominantly on clay, it came as no surprise to the Italian he landed the milestone victory on a hard court. It took six match points to steady the nerves against the seasoned Argentine on Tuesday night for a 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 victory.
[WATCH LIVE 1]“It’s not easy to describe. You have to live it to describe,” Musetti said. “The only thing that I’m sure [about] is that tonight it’s going to be tough to sleep, for sure.
“I have a lot of adrenaline after the match. Even if I’m tired it would be really tough to sleep.”
It was an opportunity he was grabbing with both hands, following the stop-start season that was 2020. It was a year in which he still managed to slash his ranking from No. 360 to No. 128, despite the COVID-19 pandemic having wiped out five months.
“Yeah I worked a lot. I’ve grown a lot in March, April of the last year,” he said. “I worked every day, like a routine to train because in one month we couldn’t touch the racquet.
“So I had some ways at home and … we were adjusting with my physical trainer via Skype and FaceTime. We did great work, but also in the pre-season we made a really intense workout and finally they paid [off].”
Now the World No. 120 has high hopes of joining compatriot Jannik Sinner as the second 19-year-old Italian in the Top 100. He would become the ninth current player from his country to occupy a place there.
“The start of the season is really good,” he said. “It’s not easy to rise because of the rankings now, it’s still a little bit frozen, but I’m playing good… I’m trying to reach them and break into the Top 100, that’s my goal.
“Now I’m here and I’m focused on the next match against Tiafoe. He won an incredible match against [Brandon] Nakashima. I won once and I lost once against him so let’s see what happens tomorrow.”