MUTUA MADRID OPEN

May 6, 2021

Matteo Berrettini

Press Conference

M. BERRETTINI/F. Delbonis

7-6, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Getting into a bit of a roll now. How happy are you with how quickly you've rounded into form?

MATTEO BERRETTINI: Yeah, you ask me how quick I got back to my form?

Q. How happy you are that you've gotten back to form so quickly?

MATTEO BERRETTINI: Yeah, I'm really happy. At the same time is not something that came so easily. I had to work really hard. I'm still working really hard. Every match is a fight. I'm really putting a lot of effort to be able to be mentally ready.

I think you could tell today, it was a really tough match decided for really few points. The difference was I was ready. I was ready to got the important moments, to play and to serve and to return good in important moments. That's what I was looking for. At the end of the day that's what makes you win match or lose it.

Q. You have mentioned it wasn't the easiest injury to come back from, because of the location of it. While you were out, what were you able to do? How much had you been able to practice? How have you been able to return so quickly?

MATTEO BERRETTINI: It's an injury that I still feel it. It's really tricky. Mentally you have to be strong because you have to know that you're fine, but at the same time you have to be careful. I'm working every day with my team in order to get better, to feel more confident.

It's crazy because after three days that I got injured, I could do a crunch with my abs, but I couldn't turn. When I was getting in the car, when I took the flight, I was struggling. I was feeling it. When I was sneezing, I was feeling it.

Then from the very first moment, I mean, after three or four weeks, I could hit the ball. After I was really tired. My ab was hurting. I was feeling tired pretty quickly. I couldn't serve for a long time. Even in Miami, I wasn't serving 100%. That's why I didn't play.

It was really tricky, but at the same time mentally it was a great work, a great effort. Now I guess it's why I'm feeling good now.

Q. Now you're in a Masters 1000 quarterfinal. What is your biggest focus at this point?

MATTEO BERRETTINI: I mean, I played this tournament once before this one. I lost in quallies. Obviously I came here with a lot of confidence. I wasn't expecting, like, okay I have to make quarters, semis, whatever. I play match after match.

Now I have a quarterfinals in front of me. It's going to be a really tough match. Cristian is playing well. I'm confident. I'm playing good. I'm enjoying the fight. I'm ready to fight.

I'll think about just the next match now.