Lorenzo Musetti was on the verge of defeat against Yunchaokete Bu in the first round of the 2025 Monte Carlo, but \u2013 ultimately \u2013 reached the showpiece match.<\/p>\n
The Italian defeated the likes of Alex de Minaur, Matteo Berrettini, and three-time champion Stefanos Tsitsipas to make the biggest match of his life.<\/p>\n
However, once there, and faced with Carlos Alcaraz, the former Grand Slam semi-finalist was defeated 3-6, 6-1, 6-0.<\/p>\n
Musetti<\/a> looked the far more comfortable player on the court in the first set, but fatigue and discomfort from the tough week eventually caught up to him \u2013 taking a medical timeout in the deciding set.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t know the specific nature of the injury yet, but it\u2019s clear that we\u2019re going to do some tests in the coming days,\u201d admitted Musetti.<\/p>\n \u201cAs you have seen, I couldn\u2019t finish the match as I wanted, but in a final, \u00a0I didn\u2019t want to retire. It was the best way to finish, even if I wasn\u2019t able to play much more. It is what it is.<\/p>\n \u201cThe toughness of the whole week, of the long matches I played, was what took its toll on me today.<\/p>\n \u201cIn this final, I was very clear about what I had to do.\u00a0Especially after the first set, which I played probably my best tennis, and of course I was feeling the ball really well today. I had a clear mind what I had to do.<\/p>\n \u201cBut physically I was struggling, the physical problems and the fatigue and all the, let\u2019s say, stress accumulated in the past days, past matches, they were there. So unfortunately I couldn\u2019t finish the match. I mean, I couldn\u2019t, let\u2019s say, fight till the end.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite the tough end to an impressive tournament performance, the Italian says that he hopes to take away optimistic sensations heading into the rest of the European clay-court season.<\/p>\n \u201cI take a lot of positive stuff. You know, I have reached some of my goals,\u201d reflected Musetti.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter this, of course, we are already focused on other goals, on trying to be ambitious and motivate ourselves even more, because we have not yet reached the top-10.<\/p>\n \u201cRight now, that\u2019s probably the main goal of the season: we\u2019re close enough to keep fighting and keep dreaming. As I said on court, I don\u2019t want to make any excuses today. Carlos probably deserved to win, but it was a shame that I couldn\u2019t show my best tennis until the last point.<\/p>\n \u201cNow I\u2019ll take a week off, I won\u2019t go to Barcelona, and I\u2019ll play in Madrid. I hope to be there 100%.\u201d<\/p>\n After his Monte Carlo run, the soon-to-be world No 11 now possesses a 64-37 win\/loss record on clay courts \u2013 with his biggest title arriving on the surface (Hamburg 2022).<\/p>\n \u201cYes, clay is probably my favorite surface,\u201d stated the runner-up.<\/p>\n \u201cLet\u2019s say it\u2019s my natural habitat.\u00a0This week gave me the confidence to be more ambitious even in bigger tournaments like this one or, for example, in French Open<\/a>. That\u2019s a massive point of the season, for me really important, which I don\u2019t have so many points to defend.<\/p>\n \u201cSo hopefully I can be prepared, you know, to do some great things there. I think I have the level to be at the top on clay.\u201d<\/p>\n Jannik Sinner\u2019s doping case \u2018handled differently\u2019, claims Italian Olympic champion<\/a><\/p>\n \u2018I told him to retire\u2019 \u2013 Lorenzo Musetti\u2019s coach reveals the Italian\u2019s Monte Carlo final injury<\/a><\/p>\n Whilst Musetti will undoubtedly be disappointed in how the final ended, he was quick to further credit Alcaraz for his performance and overall demeanour.<\/p>\n \u201cCarlos is already a legend of this sport, despite being younger than me,\u201d commented the 23-year-old.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s a record-breaking guy, and on the court you feel like he has a kind of aura, so to speak. Today, honestly, I think I played a fantastic first set, which made him change something in his tennis.<\/p>\n \u201cIf I had been 100% physically, I could have kept more energy, which is what you need to beat someone like Carlos. I hope to get revenge soon.\u201d<\/p>\n The post \u2018He has a kind of aura\u2019 \u2013 Lorenzo Musetti heaps praise on \u2018legend\u2019 Carlos Alcaraz after final defeat<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Lorenzo Musetti was on the verge of defeat against Yunchaokete Bu in the first round of the 2025 Monte Carlo, but \u2013 ultimately \u2013 reached the showpiece match. The Italian defeated the likes of Alex de Minaur, Matteo Berrettini, and three-time champion Stefanos Tsitsipas to make the biggest match of his life. However, once there, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-299","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=299"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Latest ATP News<\/h3>\n