Since there has been an ATP ranking (23 August 1973), the best Italian tennis players are Jannik Sinner, Adriano Panatta and Lorenzo Musetti. What was once a highly widespread opinion has now become a splendid reality also supported by numbers, which don’t say everything, but never lie.

With the final in Hong Kong, Divin Lorenzo enters the top five players on the planet and is preparing to face the Australian Open. Better than him, in fact, only Jannik the Cannibal (to date 66 weeks as world number 1) and the national Adriano (fourth in the rankings for three Mondays in the magical year 1976). We can already hear the great Nicola Pietrangeli underlining that he had climbed up to number 3 in the world, but this was still in the pre-computer era and the rankings were drawn up by journalists.

This is what history says, while current events say that since spring 2024, behind the phenomena Alcaraz, Sinner and Djokovic, there is our Muso, both in terms of performance peaks (two Slam semi-finals, the Olympic bronze, final in Monte Carlo and qualification for the ATP Finals), and in terms of continuity, which is what some critics attributed to Carrara’s talent.

Not only that. Musetti has shown an uncommon ability to improve season after season. The other rivals for the top positions within the top ten, such as Fritz, Shelton and De Minaur, to date, for different reasons, have not provided the same guarantees. High peaks and many lows for the two Americans, medium-high level for the Australian but the constant feeling that against the strongest he doesn’t have the capacity needed to worry them.

Lorenzo Musetti, expertly guided by Simone Tartarini, has raised the bar year after year. In a highly competitive circuit, where there is not even a shadow of easy matches, believe us: it is not at all a given. And with a modest haul of points to defend in this initial phase of the season (at least up to the European clay court), thinking of getting closer to the two aliens is not a far-fetched idea.

The taboo of the finals

The seventh consecutive defeat in an ATP final, as much as it hurts, should not be misleading. Against this new version of Bublik, on outdoor hard courts, you can lose without having to be ashamed. The Kazakh entered the top ten club for the first time not by chance. And, in terms of technical baggage, we are talking about a player who has very few weaknesses and who when he plays his best tennis can give a blow to most of his colleagues.

The regret is perhaps in a couple of less than perfect choices during the first set tie-break, but let’s talk about details. But they are the ones who make all the difference in the world in such balanced matches. Muso has grown a lot in this aspect, which is why the Chinese setback can be dismissed without drama, even more so after the first doubles title paired with his friend Lorenzo Sonego. As they say in sports, winning helps you win.

Of the seven defeats in the final round, Muso has to complain in 2024 against Cerundolo in Umag, but above all in the two consecutive finals played in Chengdu, China, against Shang and Tabilo. The other knockouts came from Paul (Queen’s), Alcaraz (Monte Carlo) and Djokovic (Athens) at the end of hard-fought and well-played matches.

The run-up to Carlos and Jannik

The problems with his right arm suffered at the end of the first set against Bublik may have had an impact and it is precisely in the physical aspect that one of the next steps that Lorenzo is called upon to take lies. If you are number 5 in the world at 23 you can only look at who is in front of you. Anyone who stops in tennis is destined to go backwards, so even a player with infinite solutions like the blue will have to add new weapons to his arsenal year after year.

However, the distance recorded by Alcaraz and Sinner during the matches of the last edition could at least be reduced if Musetti managed to get closer to the extraordinary physicality of the two hares of world tennis. Being ready to battle for five hours against Carlitos and Jannik: this must be the challenge today.

Simone Tartarini will continue to work on the rest (we repeat ourselves, but bringing a boy from the Under 10 tournaments to the top five is worth at least a couple of Oscars), without haste and with the winning recipe of small steps, supported for this season by José Perlas. The Spanish coach, who led Carlos Moya and Albert Costa to victories at Roland Garros, and coached many players such as Guillermo Coria, Nicolas Almagro, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Janko Tipsarevic and Fabio Fognini, will undoubtedly be able to add something very positive to Lorenzo’s tennis.

So far Lorenzo Musetti has enchanted those who love the racket and the stories of its protagonists. What if he was the third wheel in the Australian Open?