Matteo Berrettini has been awarded a wild card for the 2024 Italian Open, which will help him avoid playing the qualifiers for his home Masters event.
The Italian improved his ranking significantly after his triumph in Marrakech a few days ago, jumping 51 spots to number 84. Unfortunately, that's still not good enough for him to enter the Italian Open main draw directly, but his home ATP Masters 1000 helped him by giving him a well-deserved wild card entry into the main draw.
Having one of the country's best players compete at the event is certainly in the interest of the event as well, so it was likely an easy decision, as another Italian, Fabio Fognini was awarded the wild card as well.
Berrettini certainly deserved it because he has been showing a really solid level since returning to tennis recently. The Italian returned at the Phoenix Challenger a few weeks ago, making the final immediately.
He wouldn't win it and wouldn't do spectacularly well at the Miami Open, but he found his best tennis last week in Marrakech, where he went all the way to win a trophy again.
That was a huge achievement for Berrettini, who badly injured his ankle at the US Open last year and missed a lot of time. It was difficult, but he was happy to be back on Tour, and his tennis has looked really good.
His best performance in Rome was in 2020 when he made the quarter-final. His last appearance at the Italian was in 2021 when Stefanos Tsitsipas beat him in the third round, so it's been a while since he played in Rome.
Returning there will certainly be an important moment on his comeback journey, and thanks to the wild card, he won't have to worry about getting there. The tournament runs from May 8th to 19th.
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