Matteo Berrettini confirms the change he’s made to his tennis racket this week after winning in Vienna

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Matteo Berrettini is continuing his recovery from a lengthy injury layoff at the Vienna Open this week.

And he is doing a superb job, battling past both Alexei Popyrin and Cam Norrie to reach the quarterfinals in Austria.

Berrettini returned from injury at the Hangzhou Open last month, having not played since Wimbledon in June.

He lost his opener, but Berrettini won his first match at the Japan Open shortly after, with his focus then moving on to Shanghai and Stockholm.

Now in Vienna, the Italian faces a very tough task against third seed Alex de Minaur for a spot in the semifinals of the ATP 500 event.

Matteo Berrettini confirms the change he’s made to his tennis racket

Former Wimbledon finalist Berrettini missed the US Open due to his injury issues, which he clearly isn’t over given his latest comments in Vienna.

He was asked on court after beating Popyrin if he’s playing injury-free at the moment, to which he smiled and replied: “Don’t ask me that.

“I mean obviously it’s always tough when you come back, especially… it doesn’t matter how many weeks of training you put in, the competition is tough, and especially the trips and everything, the conditions. I strung my racket five kilos more this week than in Stockholm. It’s a journey.

“But the good thing is I’m enjoying the journey, and I’m healthy now, I’m good, I’m really looking forward to playing my next match.”

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Matteo Berrettini vs Alex de Minaur head-to-head record ahead of their Vienna Open tie

A tighter string approach offers more control on the court, which clearly worked well for Berrettini against Popyrin first up.

Berrettini has now won two matches in a row for the first time since April, epitomising both his injury issues and how impressive his return now is.

Keeping his racket the way it is will now likely be the long-term approach for the Italian, who entered this week with just 30 matches played all season, and having fallen to 59th in the ATP rankings.

However, world number seven De Minaur represents an entirely different change, although the Australian has been experiencing injury issues of his own of late.

De Minaur withdrew from UTS Hong Kong at the last minute because of a recurring hip problem, meaning an intriguing match-up now awaits between him and Berrettini.

And history is very much on the side of the Italian in their head-to-head, with Berrettini having won three of their four matches so far.

That includes a straight set victory in the Miami Open round of 16 earlier this year before he lost his quarterfinal with Taylor Fritz.