Where having absolutely no backhand will get you (spoiler: pretty far)
It was only a matter of time before Matteo Berrettini got exposed for what he truly is: an unequivocally sexy, young, rich tennis player who is good – but not good enough – at running around his backhand to hit his much better, much bigger groundstroke. Last night, in a match whose score doesn't really reflect just how much of an ass-kicking it was, Rafael Nadal relentlessly attacked the Roman's notoriously shaky backhand, leading to 19 unforced errors on that side alone.
Due to an hours-long downpour, the retractable roof was closed in Rod Laver Arena for the Nadal-Berrettini semifinal. Indoor conditions tend to favor those who play big and fast; in other words, they favor players like Berrettini, who often relies on the one-two punch of a well-placed serve and a thumping forehand. However, when the opponent on the other end of the court is a tactical genius, hitting aces and clean winners is easier said than done. Even at 35, Nadal is able to put himself in favorable scoring positions remarkably fast. Within just a few shots, even when he was returning, Nadal had Berrettini on the run. Nadal's played a lot of tennis this tournament, in part because he knows when to let a point – even a whole game – go. Unlike his younger self, he's much more willing to conserve the energy it would take chasing down a ball or lunging for a serve, even if it means giving his opponent a temporary advantage.
Nadal showed a little of this conservation last night, but not much; he didn't have to. Instead, he hit deep, loopy balls to Berrettini's backhand ad nauseum. During one point, I counted eight consecutive shots from Nadal that hit almost exactly the same spot on the court. The point ended with the Italian dumping a half-assed backhand slice into the tape. This is a strategy Nadal has employed countless times, including in some of the all-time greatest matches with Roger Federer, whose backhand is surely far better than Berrettini's, but exploitable nonetheless. Berrettini had just four backhand winners in the match, one of which was a volley.
What perplexed me most about last night's semifinal was just how, exactly, Berrettini manages to make deep runs in major tournaments with virtually no backhand to speak of. Of course, it's very common for players to favor their forehand: with the exception of Andy Murray, Benoît Paire, and maybe Kei Nishikori, no active ATP players prefer to hit backhands. But in Berrettini's case, it isn't just the lesser of his two groundstrokes, it's barely better than a country-clubber's. Astonishingly, he's managed to make it to the semifinals in three majors and all the way to the Wimbledon final last year.
The Berrettini Experience is reminiscent of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the brawny Frenchman who would sometimes alternate between one- and two-handed backhands because he wasn't sure which one to hit. He, like Berrettini, is a big server with a forehand that he can flatten out to devastating effect. Oh, if I had a nickel for every time a commentator asked, "What if Tsonga had a backhand?" Still, things worked out pretty well for him: in 2012, he reached his career-high ranking of world no. 5, about the same ranking Berrettini currently holds. But he never won a major, in part because of recurring injuries and in part because it didn't take long for opponents to figure out a game plan: attack the backhand.
Berrettini is a phenomenal grass-court player, and I wouldn't be surprised if he makes another deep run at Wimbledon this summer. But, at least for now, he will inevitably run into Novak Djokovic or Nadal, excellent on grass themselves, who know precisely what to do – and how to execute. The good news is that Berrettini is young; if he's still at the top of his game in four or five years, he'll have a great shot at a major title. In the meantime, Matteo, take some backhand reps and keep the anti-diarrheals on hand.