He originally wanted to be an actor, now he’s three fights away from his first career title defense! What kind of opponents is the 21-year-old tennis player looking for?

Italian Lorenzo Musetti is the second best Italian in the ATP rankings, at number 18. A solid performance at the age of 21. What are his tennis goals and who stands in his way of defending his triumph in Hamburg?

If he wasn’t a professional tennis player, he’d probably be an actor. According to Lorenzo Musetti, the two professions are closer to each other than they might seem at first glance. Both the actor and the tennis player are under a lot of pressure and their profession brings very stressful moments.

The native of Carrara handles the demands on himself excellently. Although he is one of the youngest tennis players on the circuit, he has already enjoyed two titles. Last year he succeeded in Naples and Hamburg, and now he is trying to defend his first career tournament triumph at the latter tournament.

One-handed backhand and tennis goals

One of Musetti’s trademarks is his one-handed backhand. A thing you don’t see too often. In the world’s elite three-point rankings, you could count the players who use this style of backhand on the fingers of one hand.

The Italian, however, can’t get enough of it. From the first moment he picked up a racket, he was a natural. Despite the compliments he receives for his backhand, he knows he can still improve.

And improvement is also what he needs to achieve his biggest tennis goals. The first is nothing less than winning a grand slam. Then other goals will follow.

Defending in Hamburg

The clay tournament in Hamburg may be the first location where Musetti will defend his tournament triumph. His second-round match against Slovakia’s Kovalik stretched over two days. At 3:6, 4:1, the match was suspended due to darkness.

The Italian was able to finish the match, even though he was sweating profusely. He brought the second set to a victorious end rather quickly. But in the deciding set he was in a very difficult situation after losing his serve.

He managed the end of the set perfectly, took the Slovakian player’s serve twice and enjoys promotion to the top eight. At this stage, however, there are no easy opponents.

In Friday’s quarter-finals, the Italian will face Serbian Djer. He’s not playing badly at all this year. And he’s usually knocked out of the tournament by a heavyweight. It was Rubljov at the French Open and Tsitsipas at Wimbledon.

If Musetti extends the ranks of the Serbian tennis player’s conquerors, he will face the dark horse of the tournament in Hamburg. It will be either the home team’s Altmaier or China’s Zhang Zhichen.

The real highlight of the event in Germany would be the final. In it, the Italian could challenge, for example, Nora Ruud or home player Alexander Zverev.

Finally..

There are countless tennis players who dream of winning a Grand Slam. Among the upcoming generation, Carlos Alcaraz is leading the way, followed by Holger Rune. His compatriot Sinner is also higher than Musetti in the ATP rankings.

But these names should not distract us. Musetti is a promising tennis player who managed to beat the aforementioned Alcaraz in Hamburg last year. He also proved his rise in the previous part of the season, when he showed a great performance on grass courts compared to last year.

He is a force to be reckoned with in Hamburg and his defence here would not be a surprise.

Sources: Hamburg Open, Claytenis