Lorenzo Musetti struggled to play his best tennis after being injured during the Roland Garros semifinal against Carlos Alcaraz and needs time to get back to 100% of his shape. The Italian ace was among the huge protagonists of the red clay season, in which he achieved the best results of his entire career, showing a consistency that he had never had in past years.
He reached at least the semifinals in all the tournaments he played on that surface and was playing a great match against the world number 2 in Paris, until a physical problem forced him to surrender to the iconic Philippe Chatrier.
The star from Massa Carrara had to miss the first tournaments on grass and returned to action only at the Wimbledon Championships, where he was very far from ideal condition he was eliminated by Nikoloz Basilashvili in the first round.
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Musetti is struggling
Lorenzo knew he would have a harder time away from his beloved red clay and practiced the hard courts before returning to play at the Washington ATP 500, where he suffered a comeback from British veteran Cameron Norrie.
His run at the Toronto Masters 1000 was also quite short, where he defeated Australian ace James Duckworth on his debut before losing in three sets to young American star Alex Michelsen.
Musetti's next tournament will be the Cincinnati Masters 1000, which will be played in slower conditions than in previous editions. The young Italian needs to get a good result in Ohio to regain confidence in view of the US Open, the last Major of the season, which will be staged in New York from August 24 to September 7.
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Interviewed by 'Tennis TV' before the start of the Cincinnati Open, Musetti shared his feelings: "I'm happy to be back here and I hope to play good tennis. The conditions are different than in previous years and this change should help my game. This surface is not my favorite, but I have to give my best in this Masters 1000 to be ready for the US Open."
