Lorenzo Musetti was beaten in the Monte Carlo Masters final by Carlos Alcaraz as the Italian simply ran out of steam once again.
It’s been a brilliant week for the world number 16.
He’s overcome Matteo Berrettini, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Alex de Minaur but was comprehensively beaten in the final two sets after taking the first against Alcaraz.
Musetti can take a lot of heart from this run in Monte Carlo, but ultimately, he’s struggled once again with something that has blighted him during his young career to date.
Musseti struggles with issue highlighted by Novak Djokovic in 2021
When Musetti played in the French Open for the first time, he reached round four where he came agonisingly close to shocking the tennis world and beating Djokovic.
Musetti took the first two sets but struggled badly with fatigue as a newbie on the big stages and retired at 4-0 down in the fifth set after losing sets three and four, 6-1, 6-0.
Djokovic noticed that he was struggling physically and did what every predator does with their prey and pounced on him.
In his press conference back then, he said: “It’s unfortunate for a young player like him, being two sets to love up on the centre court in his first fourth round, he was unable to physically sustain the level, at least to give himself a chance to win this match, because he was in a driving position, for the first couple of sets.
“I was saying before that I like to play young guys in best-of-five sets because I feel even if they are leading a set or two sets to love as I know it was the case today, I still like my chances because I feel like I’m physically fit and I know how to wear my opponent down.
“It’s unfortunate for him to finish the match in the way it was finished with retirement. He was obviously struggling physically, probably from the beginning of the fourth.”
Deja vu for Musetti vs Alcaraz
It’s happened again and now Musetti definitely needs to address his strength and conditioning as a matter of urgency.
Alcaraz was dominant in the second and third sets, with the Spaniard not having to work too hard to get over the line and win the tournament.
Musetti keeps breaking down in the latter stages of the competitions and has now withdrawn from the tournament in Barcelona this week.
At 23-years-old, the player has time on his side, but the challenge now is to prove Djokovic wrong following his comments in 2021 and sort the fitness side of his game out.
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