Lorenzo Musetti (born 3 March 2002) is an Italian professional tennis player.[1] He has a career-high singles ATP ranking of World No. 15 achieved on 26 June 2023 and a doubles ranking of No. 142 achieved on 1 April 2024. Musetti has won two ATP Tour singles titles.[1] In 2024, he reached his first career semifinal of a Grand Slam at Wimbledon. He has also won two titles on the ATP Challenger and two ITF World Tennis Tour titles.
Early life
Lorenzo Musetti was born on March 3, 2002, in Carrara, Tuscany, Italy. His father Francesco is a marble producer, and his mother Sabrina is a secretary. He began playing tennis at age 4, and has been coached by Simone Tartarini since childhood. His tennis idol growing up was Roger Federer.[2]
Personal life
In March 2024, Musetti announced via Instagram that he and his partner Veronica Confalonieri had welcomed a son, whom they named Ludovico.[3]
His second main draw tour-level match and first on a Masters 1000 level in his career came after qualifying at the Italian Open, where he defeated three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka in straight sets in the first round, becoming the first player born in 2002 to win an ATP match, and former World No. 4 Kei Nishikori in the second round.[8] In October he received a wildcard for the Forte Village Sardegna Open, where he reached his first ATP semifinal, retiring due to an injury against eventual champion Laslo Đere after trailing 1–4 in the third set.
2021: Top 100, ATP 500 semifinal, Grand Slam debut and fourth round
Musetti was the youngest player to break into the top 100 for the first time in his career by reaching the semifinals of the ATP Tour 500Mexican Open tournament in March after going through qualifying. There he had his first top 10 win against world no. 9 Diego Schwartzman in three sets. He also beat Frances Tiafoe and 5th-seed Grigor Dimitrov to break into the top 100 and reach his second ATP semifinal, and first at a 500 level, where he was defeated in straight sets by Stefanos Tsitsipas.[9][10] The 19-year-old was the third-youngest semifinalist in the tournament's history. Only Xavier Malisse (1998) and Rafael Nadal (2005) reached the final four in Acapulco at a younger age.[11]
Musetti reached his third ATP semifinal at the Lyon Open in May, where he was again defeated by Tsitsipas.
He capped off the clay season by reaching the fourth round at the French Open, on his Grand Slam championship debut (only the sixth player since 2000 to do so), beating 13th seed David Goffin, Yoshihito Nishioka and Marco Cecchinato in his first five-set match.[12] He had a 2–0 lead in sets against top seed Novak Djokovic in the fourth round, but retired in the 5th set trailing 0–4.[13] As a result of this successful run, he climbed to his best ranking of World No. 57 on 13 September 2021.
At the beginning of the season, Musetti reached the quarterfinals at the ATP 500 Rotterdam Open, losing to Jiří Lehečka after having defeated No. 11 Hubert Hurkacz in the second round. In Monte Carlo, he recorded the second top 10 win of his career by defeating world number 9 Félix Auger-Aliassime in the second round.[15]
After reaching his fourth career tour-level semifinal at the 2022 Hamburg European Open with a win over Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, he made his top 50 debut in the rankings.[16] He defeated Francisco Cerúndolo in the semifinals to reach the first ATP final of his career. He triumphed over World No. 6 and top seed Carlos Alcaraz in the final, winning his first ATP title and first ATP 500 tournament. As a result, he climbed up the rankings to world No. 31 on 25 July 2022.[17] Following the title, Musetti made his top 30 debut at world No. 30 on 1 August, after winning his opening round at the Croatia Open.[18]
At the US Open, where Musetti was seeded for the first time at a grand slam, he reached the third round, his deepest run in a grand slam since the 2021 French Open. In the first round, he defeated former world number 7 David Goffin in a five set match, decided by a fifth-set tiebreak.[19] He then defeated Gijs Brouwer, but lost to Ilya Ivashka in four sets.[20]
In the fall, Musetti reached his fifth and sixth ATP semifinals at the consecutive Sofia Open and Firenze Open tournaments, where he was defeated in both cases by eventual champions Marc-Andrea Huesler[21] and Félix Auger-Aliassime.[22] He then won his second career title at the Tennis Napoli Cup over fellow countryman Matteo Berrettini, without dropping a set.[23] Following the title, he reached a career-high ranking of No. 23 on 24 October 2022.
2023: Top 15 debut, win over world No. 1, Davis Cup champion
At the United Cup, Musetti helped Italy reach the final after going 4–1 in his singles matches; he retired after the first set in his match against Frances Tiafoe due to a shoulder injury.[27] After this, he reached the top 20 at world No. 19 on 9 January 2023.[28] Musetti was upset in the first round of the Australian Open by Lloyd Harris in five sets,[29][30] however, he jumped one spot to a career-high of No. 18 in the rankings following the tournament.
He lost in the first round at the US Open to qualifier and Major debutant Titouan Droguet. He then lost at the second round of Shanghai, having received a bye for the first, to qualifier and Masters debutant Hsu Yu-hsiou. He also recorded two consecutive first round losses to Grigor Dimitrov at the European indoors tournaments, the 2023 Erste Bank Open and the 2023 Rolex Paris Masters and left the top 25 in the rankings.
Musetti partook in the 2023 Davis Cup, where Italy would be the champions for the first time since 1976.[41] He played two singles matches throughout the tournament, including in the semifinal against Serbia, losing both. He played two doubles matches, both partnering with Simone Bolelli, where he would win one in the round robin stage of the Finals against Chile in September.
He defeated again Taylor Fritz in the quarterfinals of the 2024 Wimbledon Championships to reach his first ever Major semifinal.[43] He lost to No. 2 seed Novak Djokovic.[44]