A destructive forehand and 139mph serves have marked out the Italian as a possible dark horse at Wimbledon
Early in the first week of Wimbledon, Roger Federer was asked why he thinks Matteo Berrettini, the seventh seed who swept to the Queen’s Club title two weeks ago, was considered more likely to reach the final than Alexander Zverev, the fourth seed. With all the disdain in the world, Federer put the blame on the bias of English bookies, explaining they tend to weigh results at Queen’s Club too heavily.
But Federer did admit that Berrettini’s results have been strong. The Italian arrives in the second week on an eight-match winning sequence and with 20 wins in his past 22 matches on grass. With so many younger players still not as comfortable on grass as other surfaces, in many eyes he entered the tournament as a leader of a challenging pack that remains far behind Novak Djokovic.
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