Lorenzo Musetti has seen his stock rise on the grass this year with a first Wimbledon semi-final awaiting the Italian star.
The world number 25 reached the final at Queen’s last month but lost to Tommy Paul in an entertaining final.
He’s taken that form into Wimbledon, however, and yesterday he dumped out American player Taylor Fritz in five sets.
Now, he faces the seven-time champion Novak Djokovic and it’s fair to say that the challenge of beating him will be so tough.
Musetti has never been this far in a Grand Slam before and he will have to make sure he’s mentally ready to face one of the greatest players of all time.
Ahead of the match which takes place tomorrow, former American player Sam Querrey has delivered his verdict on whether he has any chance at all.
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Sam Querrey delivers verdict on Musetti vs Djokovic at Wimbledon
The prospect of Musetti coming through a match with Djokovic and reaching the Wimbledon final looks bleak, it has to be said.
Querrey has been to the semi-final at the tournament before and it’s fair to say he doesn’t give Musetti much of a chance on Friday.
He told NBC Sports: “He has zero chance to beat Novak. But having said that, if you asked me if he had a chance to beat Taylor Fritz, I would have said zero chance. I even texted you, I bet my house that Taylor wins this in three sets.
“But the more I started watching it, I was like Musetti is playing him perfect. When Taylor is in the middle of the court, bashing the ball, he is maybe the best player in the world.
“But Musetti was bringing him in, using the drop shot a lot, using the slice, putting Taylor in awkward positions where he was having to hit the ball from his ankles, then one high.
“It was a fun match to watch. Tactically speaking Musetti played it perfectly. He proved me wrong and I was really impressed with the way he played.”
Musetti must believe he can beat Djokovic
Given that he’s still relatively sore following knee surgery perhaps this might be closer than it should be anticipated.
Musetti does know what it takes to beat Djokovic too, having beat him in an ATP Masters 1000 event in Monte Carlo in 2023.
On that occasion, he beat Djokovic in three sets and he will have to dig deep to oust the seven-time winner this time around.
Djokovic ran into Musetti in the round of 32 at Roland Garros last month. There he came through in five sets with the Italian giving him a good game.
all Musetti can do is give his best and hope that he catches Djokovic out of sorts in some way.
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