DAVIS CUP FINALS

November 22, 2023

Matteo Berrettini

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Good afternoon. We will take questions in English if there are any questions first, please.

Q. Matteo, thanks for being here. We talk a lot about injuries, physical injuries, but in terms of mental side, you know, what's the hardest part of being in the sidelines for the last, I mean, since the US Open, what has been the hardest part for you and for not taking place in the tournaments?

MATTEO BERRETTINI: Oh, a tough question. There are many, many reasons why I was really sad. First of all, obviously because I couldn't compete, which is the thing that I love to do.

Then there was another thing that came in. There was that I wasn't enjoying the process of coming back, that it was, like, kind of like the key before. Unfortunately I had many injuries, but I always found, like, kind of, not the joy, but, you know, the challenge of coming back and feeling kind of like, okay, now I put the work in.

And I wasn't feeling that. When I was feeling something on my body, I was really struggling. I went down. Mentally I wasn't ready to face the challenge.

Then many things happen, and I think it was just really important for me to stop and, you know, like, think a little bit and take my time. Because the body and the mind, they go together. So, yeah.

Q. I'd like to know about your program or your schedule for 2024. Does it include Australia and where do we go from there?

MATTEO BERRETTINI: Yeah, hopefully I'm going to start in Australia. That's the goal, to play as many matches as possible next year (smiling).

I'm working hard right now to get ready. I love to play in Australia. I had great memories there, and it's a swing that I always really like to go there and play there.

Yeah, that's the goal, and I think it's doable. So I'm working hard for that.

Q. You talked about the pressure and expectations from the people after you did so good in Wimbledon. You said it earlier this year. What are your thoughts about it right now and what do you think about the support from the people?

MATTEO BERRETTINI: The support, it's always been there, especially from the people that, you know, that cares about me and they were with me and they're with me. They're going to be with me until the very last point that I'm going to play, my family, my close ones.

It's kind of normal, I think, in today's world that when you become someone you get love and you get some hate, as well (smiling). At the beginning I couldn't really, you know, understand why a tennis player could get so much, you know, like, I don't know, like bad comments or bad press or bad whatever, just to do what he loves to do in the way that he thinks is the best. So I was really a little bit surprised.

But then I really focused myself on thinking about what I like to do. I know who I am, I know what I achieved in my career, I know what I want to do, I know what makes me happy. So that's the goal right now.

I have to say I feel a lot of support from a lot of people, texting me many messages and they call me a lot. It's always been there and it's great, actually.

Q. You have played Rafa at a Grand Slam on a hard court in Australia and also in New York. You have played Novak on the clay in Paris. Which of those two kind of challenges did you think was more difficult?

MATTEO BERRETTINI: I don't know. I think they're different players, so it's really tough to say, you know, what's toughest. I have to say that in Paris was the one match that I felt, like, was the closest one that I played. I lost all of them against them, but in Paris I felt like the momentum was shifting a little bit.

And then, I don't know if you remember, but they stopped the match and we were like 25 minutes in the locker room. You know, I kind of lost a little bit the rhythm, and obviously he was playing really good. But overall, that was the match that I felt, like, closer to Novak.

So I think -- I don't know. You pick (smiling). It's really tough.