Lorenzo Musetti has not shown positive signs during the tennis off-season after suffering a heavy defeat.
Musetti qualified for the ATP Finals for the first time this year after enjoying the best season of his career, which saw him reach the final of the Monte Carlo Masters and the semifinal of the French Open.
This even saw Musetti win an Italian award ahead of Jannik Sinner, despite not winning a title since 2022.
Musetti had revealed his goal to challenge both Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz next year, but his recent result at an exhibition suggests otherwise.
Lorenzo Musetti gets thrashed by Hugo Gaston in exhibition event
While the 2025 ATP season is officially over, some tennis players are still competing in exhibition events.
This includes Musetti, with the world number eight signing up for the Open de Caen event in France, where Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and his compatriot Lorenzo Sonego were also featured.
As the top-ranked player competing in the exhibition event, Musetti received an automatic bye straight to the semifinals.
This would see him play against world number 97 Hugo Gaston, who has a winning record against Alcaraz.
Despite being ranked 89 places apart, Gaston dominated the match against Musetti to beat him, 6-2 6-0.
Although it could be argued that this match is insignificant as an exhibition, it is far from ideal preparation for a player who wants to be one of the best in the world.
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Musetti has added a new coach to his team ahead of the 2026 Australian Open, which he will start differently to many of his rivals.
While 2025 has been the best season of Musetti’s career, he has not won an ATP title since 2022 and has lost his last six finals.
This is starting to become a real issue for Musetti and might explain his scheduling decision for the 2026 season.
Most top ATP players are beginning their seasons at either the United Cup or like Novak Djokovic, who will play in Adelaide.
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However, that is not the case for Musetti, who will play in the ATP 250 tournament in Hong Kong, alongside Alexander Bublik, Andrey Rublev and Karen Khachanov.
This will be Musetti’s only tournament prior to the Australian Open, which is his worst performing Grand Slam tournament, having won only 43% of his matches in Melbourne.
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