Matteo Berrettini surprises by revealing his fight against depression: “It was difficult for me to get out of bed in the morning”

Matteo Berrettini I couldn’t get past the first round of Monte Carlo Masters 1000, which he entered thanks to a wild card. He was eliminated after falling 6-3 and 6-1 to the Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic. But that defeat did not erase the joy of his Sunday consecration in ATP250Marrakechwith which he signed his return to the top 100. Above all because the mere fact of being back on the field – it was in March, after seven months of inactivity due to a right ankle problem – is an enormous result, due to the very hard moments experienced in that period away from the circuit.

“I felt the tank was completely empty,” the 27-year-old admitted to Roman, recounting the depression he went through in those months without playing.

“It was the most difficult moment. In the morning I really struggled to get out of bed. At a certain point I said “Now I just do what I feel”. I had to take care of myself,” he continued in an interview on the first broadcast of “Zeta”the new original series of Red Bull which will offer other testimonies from Olympic athletes in the next four weeks.

The coronation in Morocco allowed Berrettini to move up 51 positions in the rankings, from 135th to 84th place and to begin to recover the ground lost due to a series of injuries that have complicated him in recent seasons. In October 2022, for example, he injured his left ankle and abandoned the final Naples in front of his compatriot Lorenzo Musetti. And he acknowledged that he was already tired of the physical problems.

Recovered from that ailment, he started the 2023 season without problems. However, his body did not allow him to have continuity. In February he retired in a quarter of Acapulco due to discomfort in the right leg; In April he didn’t show up to play in the round of 16 Montecarlo in view of Rune Holger; and in August, in his second match in the US Open, his right ankle forced him to throw in the towel. And he was able to return to the fields only in March, in Phoenix Challenger 175Arizona.

The possibility of picking up the racket again and competing again was the key to regaining enthusiasm.

“All this work that I have done with myself gives me the strength to say that there will certainly be difficult moments, sad moments, but I will start again with better energy than in the past. And with joy and emotion for an event that is coming and not the terror of thinking “Now something will happen”“, concluded Berrettini.

The Marrakech match represented Berrettini’s first final after more than a year and a half. And his victory allowed him to add his first title since 2022 and the 90th in Italian tennis on the ATP circuit.

“I demonized the word depression, I told myself I achieved things, I have an incredible family, people love me, how can I feel so depressed?” said the former world number 6.

“I realized that there was something deeper that I was missing. After the injury at the US Open, my loved ones realized that something was wrong. But I was able to start again with more energy,” he said.

“More and more kids get to know me and ask me about my backwards hat, or imitate my snaps, that’s one thing that makes me happy,” he said.

“It came, but I never looked for it. I started playing tennis because I loved it and it’s my passion, and I wanted to make a living like that. It came later and you also have to succeed,” he explained about its popularity among the fans. “I’m used to the wave that somehow overwhelms you, sometimes positive, sometimes less so. You’re not born prepared, there were moments when I felt at ease, in others being too exposed bothered me.”

Regarding social networks, he commented that “they are a current and important reality and we cannot give them up, they are now an important part of our culture, if used correctly they are a crazy communication tool”.

“‘Haters’ have always existed. Maybe they had difficulty saying certain things to your face before and they feel stronger behind the screen. You shouldn’t stop using social media because there are people who don’t like you”, considered Berrettini.

The Italian also acknowledged that he is used to the tension and pressure that elite athletes live with every day.

“If we don’t feel them it means that what we do is not important. The pressures are necessary to achieve something beautiful that we have decided to create. It is part of the path of self-knowledge, when fear arises it is because we want to do something beautiful” , he has declared.

With information from ANSA