Former Italian No 1 Matteo Berrettini has appointed the long-time mentor of Rafael Nadal as his coach for what is understood to be a trial period in Australia.
For the upcoming season, the former Wimbledon finalist is partnered with Francisco Roig, who is most renowned for his 18-year relationship with Rafael Nadal that came to an end last year.
In addition, throughout his professional career, Roig was a top 60 player in both singles and doubles and served as the vice-captain of the Spanish Davis Cup squad.
Less than two months have passed between Vincenzo Santopadre, who had been instructing Berrettini since he was thirteen, ended their association.
The Italian at the time didn’t disclose the reason behind their breakup, but instead paid a moving homage to his former master on Instagram. Santopadre managed his ascent to the Wimbledon final in 2021 and his entry into the top 10.
Roig wasn’t the only candidate vying to be Berrettini’s next coach, according to Super Tennis. According to reports, Tomas Enqvist was also in the running, but he was unable to go to Australia because of unspecified “health-related issues.” It has been said that these problems are “not serious.”
Although Berrettini was once rated as high as sixth in the world, he has suffered from a number of injuries in recent months. Since withdrawing from his second-round match at the US Open due to an ankle ailment, he has not participated in any tournaments. Prior to that, he had surgery on his right hand last year and missed a significant portion of the clay season because of an abdominal issue.
He has participated in 23 tour matches this season, winning 12 of them. His finest performance came at Wimbledon, when he advanced to the fourth round before falling to Carlos Alcaraz, the eventual winner.
Berrettini says that his time away from the game has allowed him to take stock and get his mind and body ready for action.
“There are many, many reasons why I was really sad,” Berrettini told a press conference.
“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.
“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.”
