Matteo Berrettini returned to winning with a beautiful smile

Welcome back! These are the first words that come to everyone's mind at this moment: welcome back Matteo Berrettini! The Italian hadn't won a tournament for two years, 658 days to be precise, and he returned to play a few weeks ago after his injury at the 2023 US Open. Now Matteo is back. He beat the Spaniard Roberto Carballes Baena in straight sets (7-5 ​​6-2) and won the ATP 250 tournament in Marrakech, once again approaching the top 80 players in the world after arriving here as number 135.

Service and forehand are always the strong points of this champion who seemed lost. It is not. Matteo Berrettini's smile, first hidden with his hands after the decisive point and then shown to everyone, demonstrates his joy at a sought-after and desired victory. This is not yet the champion second only to Novak Djokovic on the grass of Wimbledon, but he is a recovering player who is working physically, technically and mentally to return to being one of the best in the world. The numbers say it, one in particular that the path is right: he canceled seven out of eight break points. For Berrettini it is the eighth title of his career, the fourth on clay where he had not won since April 2021 in Belgrade.

Seeing him lift this trophy tells us how much we missed his smile, a full smile, not the one in the middle of the last few months. «It's been a tough two years. My body didn't allow me to play. I thank my team and my family, everyone who made my return possible.” In Italian, his words to thank the public of his fellow countrymen who in Morocco called him the gladiator of Marrakech: “This is just the beginning”. And we all hope that this is truly how Berrettini will return to being the protagonist of the wonderful blue avalanche of tennis.