BNP PARIBAS OPEN

March 13, 2022

Matteo Berrettini

Press Conference

M. BERRETTINI/H. Rune

6-4, 4-6, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Do you feel totally recovered from the injury suffered in Acapulco?

MATTEO BERRETTINI: Yeah. Luckily did a great job with my team. We did all the exams and everything. Fortunately, like I said, there were no tear or anything. So, yeah, really happy to be here, to be healthy again. Hopefully for a longer time now.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Could you comment on today's match and how tough it was, going through three sets with somebody you've not faced before.

MATTEO BERRETTINI: Yeah, I expected like tough match for so many reasons. I didn't really play a lot after Australia because I got injured. He's, for sure, one of the rising players that we have on tour. He played three matches. I expected a tough one.

You never know when you're coming back from an injury how you're going to feel. My strokes were okay. My serve was good. I think my energy was going up and down a little bit, but I expected it. I managed everything pretty well, I would say.

Yeah, he's a tricky player. He moves fairly well. He has good strokes, good serve. Yeah, a tough one.

Q. Do you feel it was the tougher situation coming back from the injury aspect or the fact that you haven't played him before?

MATTEO BERRETTINI: I think it's kind of both in a way. Yeah, I always feel like I can play good here, but I never really did in the past. It's always tricky.

But yeah, for sure, playing quallies and having the confidence, he won pretty easily against Humbert, so I knew he was playing good. Luckily he's still young and today I was better than him.

Q. The conditions here are so different to most other tournaments. How difficult was that to control, with the ball flying?

MATTEO BERRETTINI: It's always tricky. I would say the toughest part about playing here, sometimes you feel like also the balls get really big, but at the beginning they're really fast. It's tricky to control this kind of stuff. Sometimes it doesn't get the spin that you want, sometimes the ball is flying, sometimes too much spin.

You have to have a good touch, a good feeling. Of course, the more you play, the more you're going to get used to it.