Matteo Berrettini on Netflix's tennis series: "It’s going to be really interesting to show people behind-the-scenes the stuff you don’t usually see"
Matteo Berrettini, one of the players set to feature on the upcoming Netflix docuseries on tennis, has stated that he enjoyed being a part of the filming process throughout the season.
The series is being made by London-based Box To Box Films, who are renowned for creating sports-themed content, having already made films on Steven Gerrard, Cristiano Ronaldo, and the World Surfing Tour — among others.
James Gay-Rees, the mastermind behind Formula 1's Drive to Survive, Senna and Amy, will serve as the executive producer.
"The series will offer an unfiltered look at life inside the competitive sport of professional tennis through the perspective of the players and their teams. The series will also be the first sports program of its kind to provide an equal platform to the men’s and women’s competitors of the sport, in keeping with the equal stage they share throughout the year,” Netflix said in a press release earlier this year.
Speaking to Arab News about his experience of taking part in the shooting process of the show, Matteo Berrettini said that he had fun even though he was skeptical at the start.
“It’s been fun. At the beginning I was like, what is this? Obviously when you win it’s always easy to have people around you and stuff but then when you lose, it’s tougher, you want to be by yourself, you don’t want to be bothered. But I was like, if I’m going to do this, I want to do it the right way. And that’s what I tried to do. I think it’s going to be really interesting to show people behind-the-scenes the stuff you don’t usually see,” Matteo Berrettini expressed.
“Mentally, it was really tough” - Matteo Berrettini on his 2022 season
Matteo Berrettini has had a season of ups and downs. While looking at his best when he took to the court, injuries and illness forced him to sit out of many tournaments — including two of the four Grand Slams.
While surgery on his right hand meant he missed the entire clay season, he bounced back in style by winning back-to-back titles on the grass courts in Stuttgart and London. However, the Italian tested positive for COVID-19 on the eve of Wimbledon and was forced to watch the proceedings from the sidelines. More recently, a foot issue stopped him from playing singles for Italy in the Davis Cup Finals.
Reflecting on his 2022 campaign, the 26-year-old said:
“Mentally, it was really tough. I was at my best ranking, I was playing good, I had a good run in Australia, clay season was coming and grass season was coming, which are the ones I love the most, and then that injury happened so it was tough to deal with that.”
“At the same time I tried to take that time in order to come back stronger, with more energy. Because, obviously, the tour can be really tiring in some ways, so I was like, OK, I have to stop and get surgery, but I’m going to try to use this time to get better, to maybe do something I wouldn’t able to do when I’m on tour. Just invest some time to do stuff I never had the time to do and I helped myself like that,” he continued.
“It worked out because when I came back I was feeling ready, I was feeling good. Obviously after I got COVID in Wimbledon everything went a little bit downhill, but it’s ups and downs and, hopefully, next year there are going to be more ups,” Matteo Berrettini concluded.