Tennis
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I've been a faithful fan of Lorenzo on here for years now and the discrepancy between talent and titles is unlike anything I've seen. His matches are displays of variety and spectacular shotmaking, his creativity exceeds any that of any top player except Carlos and he reinforces the showmanship with his intensity. Yet in the first month of 2026 the trophy cabinet has not been added to since the 250 win in Napoli over Matteo over three years ago.
I'm convinced that this is the year the rewards come. He has broken into the top five with a steady foundation of consistency. He hasn't been winning titles but he gets to the business end of competitions and his consistency is steadily inclining. Last year he was the only player to reach the semi finals of Monte Carlo, Madrid and Rome (the three ATP 1000 tournaments leading up to the French open) He then reached the SF of the French open itself. Only Carlos stopped him triumphing in Monte Carlo and it was Carlos again that stopped him reaching his first slam final.
The consistent incline is crucial because if he can deliver his breathtaking brand of magical tennis secure in the confidence that he does so on the rock solid foundation of measurable improvement (his smoothly rising ranking, his reliably beating the players he should be beating aka gatekeeping) then I believe that's a formula that should see an imminent payoff.
The following are the three steps I'm looking out for which would take him to Grand slam glory in 2026
Step one should be to beat both Fritz and Novak in the current event (the Australian Open) which would then give him a free shot at Sinner in the SF. That would mean he had reached the semi final of majors on three surfaces in the space of two years.
Step two should be to win at least one of the three clay ATP 1000s, ideally Rome where he has previously underperformed prior to 2025
Step three should be to face and beat Carlos in an event at that level (draw permitting)
The Illusionist would then be ideally placed to transform Roland Garros into a Las Vegas magic show and to follow up with a strong showing at Wimbledon. Grass is his least favoured surface yet he has the potential for all court brilliance and reached the semi final in 2024
Tonight he faces Taylor who is the marginal favourite
I'm convinced that this is the year the rewards come. He has broken into the top five with a steady foundation of consistency. He hasn't been winning titles but he gets to the business end of competitions and his consistency is steadily inclining. Last year he was the only player to reach the semi finals of Monte Carlo, Madrid and Rome (the three ATP 1000 tournaments leading up to the French open) He then reached the SF of the French open itself. Only Carlos stopped him triumphing in Monte Carlo and it was Carlos again that stopped him reaching his first slam final.
The consistent incline is crucial because if he can deliver his breathtaking brand of magical tennis secure in the confidence that he does so on the rock solid foundation of measurable improvement (his smoothly rising ranking, his reliably beating the players he should be beating aka gatekeeping) then I believe that's a formula that should see an imminent payoff.
The following are the three steps I'm looking out for which would take him to Grand slam glory in 2026
Step one should be to beat both Fritz and Novak in the current event (the Australian Open) which would then give him a free shot at Sinner in the SF. That would mean he had reached the semi final of majors on three surfaces in the space of two years.
Step two should be to win at least one of the three clay ATP 1000s, ideally Rome where he has previously underperformed prior to 2025
Step three should be to face and beat Carlos in an event at that level (draw permitting)
The Illusionist would then be ideally placed to transform Roland Garros into a Las Vegas magic show and to follow up with a strong showing at Wimbledon. Grass is his least favoured surface yet he has the potential for all court brilliance and reached the semi final in 2024
Tonight he faces Taylor who is the marginal favourite
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He has said that family life has given him a new focus and improved his sport mentality. The timeline since having his first son to having his second in late 2025 does seem to track his steady consistent incline but of course such a correlation can't be proven
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Very naturally talented player but he's lack of offensive play and aggression are basically the main reasons why he's not won a title in 3 years and has lost is last 7 finals, think he added a new coach to his team recently to address that. Last couple of years he's improved a lot on hard courts and has probably less pressure than the other top players due to both lack of expectation and no more ranking points to defend, reached 3rd round last year.
Then there's the serve, which is not a big enough weapon. His return game is better. He's 28th overall with service games won and 15th overall with return games won (last 52 weeks). As talented a player as anyone can be with shot making ability and pure entertainment value, those kind of numbers wont get it done at thick end of a tournament, that's not to say he can't improve, he's 6ft1, same as Federer who had one of the best serves ever, but technically needs that needs to improve. Optimum height for a good serve and return game is always between 6ft and 6ft3. Then there's the intangibles, does he really have the Dogs of War mentality a la Nadal to compete when it matters? that's one thing I'll give De Minaur, "he fights for your money"  When comparing with the other Top 10 players, it reads like this. % Service games won 1. Sinner - 92% 2. Fritz - 89% 3. Bublik - 86.9% 4. Djokovic - 88.3% 5. Felix - 86 6. Shelton - 86.9% 7. Alcaraz - 87.6% 8. Zverev - 86.5% 9. De Minaur - 84.2% 10. Mussetti - 83.3% (28th overall) 1st serve points won 1. Sinner - 79.5% 2. Fritz - 79.4% 3. Bublik - 79.1% 4. Djokovic - 76.8% 5. Felix - 76.7 6. Shelton - 75.3% 7. Alcaraz - 74.1% 8. Zverev - 73.7% 9. De Minaur - 73.2% 10. Mussetti - 71.2% (59th overall) 2nd serve pts won 1. Sinner - 59.1% 2. De Minaur - 56.9% 3. Alcaraz - 56.8% 4. Mussetti - 56% (4th overall) 5. Djokovic - 55.2% 6. Shelton - 54.3% 7. Fritz - 54% 8. Zverev - 53.8% 9. Felix - 52.2% 10. Bublik - 48% 1st serve Return Pts won 1. Alcaraz - 35% 2. Sinner - 33.6% 3. De Minaur - 31.8% 4. Djokovic - 31.6% 5. Musetti - 30.2% (16th overall) 6. Zverev - 29.9% 7. Felix - 29.1% 8. Bublik - 27.1% 9. Shelton - 26.5% 10. Fritz - 26.1% 2nd Serve Return pts won 1. Sinner - 57.8% 2. De Minaur - 54.4% 3. Alcaraz - 54% 4. Djokovic - 53.1% 5. Zverev - 52.8% 6. Musetti - 52.7% (12th overall) 7. Fritz - 51.4% 8. Felix - 48.2% =8th. Bublik - 48.2% 10. Shelton - 46.3% % Return Games won 1. Sinner - 32.6% 2. Alcaraz - 31.9% 3. De Minaur - 28% 4. Djokovic - 26.5% 5. Musetti - 24.7% (15th overall) 6. Zverev - 21.8% 7. Bublik - 18.8% 8. Felix - 18.1% 9. Fritz - 17.9% 10. Shelton - 16.8% Break pts converted 1. Sinner - 44.6% 2. Alcaraz - 44.3% 3. De Minaur - 42.4% 4. Shelton - 41.9% 5. Djokovic - 41.6% 6. Zverev - 39.8% 7. Bublik - 39.7% =7.Musetti - 39.7% (28th overall) 9. Fritz - 38.7% 10. Felix - 32.7% I would like to see him reach a slam final for ability alone, but tbh if that's going to happen, it's most likely the French where all round play and return game is more important that serving and as above, he's a better returner than server. Sampras found this out, could not blast and 1-2 punch his way to slam titles at Roland Garros as the clay does not allow for it. That's why Agassi was a better all round player than him but didn't have a big enough power game to utilise the new racquet technology change that allowed for Pistol Pete to power-drive his way through draws. So he ended up with 14 and Andre 8. But even then, you have to question if Lorenzo has the physicality to for 2 weeks of clay best of 5, optically it doesn't look like it but again, something he can work on. Kind Regards. |
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That first serve points won list is eyecatching. Lorenzo 59th! Fritz (his opponent tonight) right up there just 0.01% behind Jannik
You definitely make a good case that he's not quite there yet. Specifically in this event I've set a realtic target because he's in the wrong side of the draw now that Jannik has survived his scare. Musetti would have a better chance if he was in the same half as Carlos (who is unproven here and not yet looking like a threat to Sinner) One of the intangibles though is the shifting in Italian sports culture in the Sinner era. I walked through Milan central station last year and Sinner's face was everywhere, advertising capuccinos, utilities etc. It takes time for a nation to adjust to truly owning that they are the centre of a given sport. Musetti's involvement in two successful Davis Cup triumphs for Italy has to be factored in. Federer's relentless success opened the door for another Swiss player to take on the belief that he could achieve slam glory. Lorenzo could be ready like Wawrinka to follow the path laid out by an elite compatriot |
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* realistic
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Into the quarters to face a rested Djokovic, has 1-9 h2h record against him. Played a great match as I remember v Novak at the French before completely fading in the 5th which finished at past 3am.
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Musetti currently world no 3 in the live rankings. That's unusual, I think of him as world number 9 or so.
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Into the quarters to face a rested Djokovic, has 1-9 h2h record against him
That terrible h2h record makes a useful reference point for the steady consistent incline assuming Lorenzo starts winning meaningful encounters with Novak If I had to guess how tonight's match plays out I'd expect Novak to take one of the first two sets comfortably 6-0, 6-1 or 6-2 and Lorenzo to be in control of the match by the end of the third set. Any win will do (to paraphrase Becker) |
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Good ol Becker, missed on BBC punditry.
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Musetti goes up 2 sets to nil, picks up a groin injury, retires half way through the third set
Step one is a frustrating fail |
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certainly performed some magic there. went 2-0 up then disappeared
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I think he has a great chance on the clay of Paris, he's more suited to it, he's currently 20's with most books or 33/1 with slybet. I have him 3rd fav over Novak and Zverev yet they're favoured ahead of him, even Fonseca is considered to be equal fav right now with Mussetti, which is way to early for him to be ranked that high.
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