You don’t get many meetings between two household names in the second round of 128-player tournaments, but that’s what we’re getting when Holger Rune takes on Matteo Berrettini at the Australian Open.
Rune was able to survive a massive opening-round scare, winning 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 against Zhizhen Zhang. Meanwhile, Berrettini dropped the first set against Cam Norrie, but cruised from there. Now, he’ll look to knock off Rune and continue a comeback that has been several years in the making. But Rune’s rise is a story that we’ve also been watching unfold, and I like the Dane to advance.
I wouldn’t rule out a big season for Berrettini this year. He had a nice year last year, going 32-13 with three titles. Berrettini is even further removed from the injuries that derailed his career, and he also hired Umberto Ferrara as his new fitness coach. Ferrara, you may recall, was involved in Jannik Sinner’s doping case, and he was dismissed from the team for negligence. But Ferrara is known as one of the best fitness specialists on the planet, and one man’s trash can be another man’s treasure. The problem is that Rune is also leveling up when it comes to the people around him.
