The Top 10 spots in the PIF ATP Rankings are exclusively reserved for the cream of the crop. At the Mutua Madrid Open, Lorenzo Musetti may just have found the keys to pick the lock to one of the most stubborn doors.
Since starting out on tour, the Italian has had to deal with the pressure of being one of the biggest talents of his generation. At 23 years of age, with the experience he has garnered match-by-match, shot-by-shot, the Italian is slowly moving towards a place that he always seemed destined to reach. In a locker room that always has one eye on the future, the Italian is lurking in the shadows, ready to become one of the ATP Tour’s big guns.
On Saturday, the clay of the Caja Magica witnessed the latest outing of the player from Carrara, who beat Argentina’s Tomás Martín Etcheverry 7-3(6), 6-2 to earn himself a place in round three. Lorenzo, who reached his first ATP Masters 1000 final a few weeks ago in Monte Carlo, one of the best results of his young professional career, is using the European clay swing as a lever to prise his way into the world’s Top 10 for the first time.
His win in the Arantxa Sánchez Stadium, which came on the back of a collection of one-handed backhands and acrobatic shots, is just another step in the Italian’s rise. It placed Musetti at No. 9 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings, alongside the biggest names in the game. With no points to defend in the Spanish capital, he now has a chance to seal his arrival among the tour’s elite.
“I don’t even want to look at the ranking this week”, the Italian said laughing. His arrival at the Caja Magica found a perfect balance between performance and rest. After reaching the final in Monaco, the Italian withdrew from Barcelona in an effort to fine tune his game before playing in the Spanish capital. He will be hoping the extra days of practice will bear fruit in the coming days under the Madrid sun.
“When you wait a long time, you can get impatient about playing”, explained the Italian, who has been on the courts of Madrid for over a week. “In a way it’s positive. You don’t have to have a negative mindset or put pressure on yourself because you’re not playing a match in two weeks. Sometimes you can feel perfect in practice, but in competition it can be different. I think I managed the time well and I had the right attitude on court”.
In the context of his home country, where tennis is currently in the spotlight, Musetti’s achievement is all the more impressive. Lorenzo is aspiring to become just the sixth Italian player to reach the Top 10 of the PIF ATP Singles Rankings, following in the footsteps of Jannik Sinner, Adriano Panatta, Matteo Berrettini, Corrado Barazzutti and Fabio Fognini.
Now faced with the opportunity to go deep in Madrid, Musetti finds himself in a section of the draw teeming with big-name players. The Italian will be bidding for a place in the last sixteen against the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, a three-time ATP Masters 1000 on clay, or Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff, a former runner-up in the Caja Magica.
Musetti’s rise comes after a year of impressive performances on a variety of surfaces, including his first Grand Slam semi-final on the lawns of Wimbledon, bronze at the Olympic Games in Paris and a highly-consistent start to the 2025 season, in which he has won at least one match in very tournament he has entered.
In Madrid, where the limelight will be on a number of other players, Musetti could come in under the radar.
