Musetti’s feat at Wimbledon: three Italians in the quarterfinals. And Lorenzo gets emotional in front of Veronica and his son

And three. Lorenzo Musetti beats the French giant Giovanni Mpetchi-Perricard in four sets (4-6 6-3 6-3 6-2) and joins Jannik Sinner and Jasmine Paolini in the Wimbledon quarterfinals. We have never had three Italians among the ‘last eight’ of the same Slam, let alone at Wimbledon.

A set lost for a badly played game, then three authoritative and enjoyable sets on court number 2 where the bugbear were Perricard’s ultrasonic serves, but in the end the show was provided above all by the plays of Muso, finally in great form also on grass. And then tenacious, combative, very charged. Even on the green of Wimbledon there is a hidden audience but very close to his heart: his partner Veronica and his son Ludovico.

“I’m a little emotional, you know,” says Lorenzo, with tears in his eyes, after rolling in the grass after his opponent’s last mistake. “My family is here, even if the baby is sleeping now… For me it’s a very important victory.”. Musetti has never had the reputation of being a great herbivore, but since Stuttgart, and then with the final at Queen’s he has found the right condition: technical, physical, but above all mental, with a great desire to fight and stay on the court giving everything he can. “On grass two types of players are good – says coach Tartarini, a second father to Muso – The great hitters and the technical players, and Lorenzo belongs to the latter category. In the past he lacked conviction, this year things have changed. Fatherhood at the beginning upset him, now he is calmer. Lorenzo deserves to be among the top 10 in the world, now he is finally coming out, unfortunately he is a fragile boy but in the last tournaments he has also shown that he knows how to fight”.

Also in the stands is Veronica Confalonieri, Lorenzo’s partner and mother of Ludovico, born on March 15. “He’s at home now, luckily my mother is here to help me. We’re all together in a house here in Wimbledon, Lorenzo is a loving father, he really cares about being a good dad, he even changes diapers. At first, the fact that he was expecting a child was a surprise, I was more shocked than he was because I was afraid that it would hinder his career, but we never had any doubts. In Bologna, during the Davis Cup last year, when he announced it to the team, Lorenzo was as if freed and now he is much more serene. Luckily Ludovico is a sunny child, he lets us sleep, he is calm. Who does he resemble? I see a lot of Lorenzo’s look in him».

Lorenzo and Veronica fell in love in 2021. “My sister is married to Gianluca Mager, we met like this, I also played tennis when I was a girl, I participated in the Lemon Bowl. He called me, he had been ‘trying’ for a while now, I was a bit perplexed at first, he seemed very ‘small’ to me, but I was wrong. He also sent me the essays he was doing for his final exams, he is a very sensitive boy, Lorenzo”. And now also one of the last 8 at the Championships, the tournament he has always loved very much. Next opponent, Zverev or Fritz. The game is getting tough, but dad Musetti has decided to start playing seriously, even on grass.