Tennis-Musetti plays game of contrasts at French Open
Tennis - French Open - Roland Garros, Paris, France - May 30, 2025 Italy's Lorenzo Musetti celebrates after winning his third round match against Argentina's Mariano Navone REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes
PARIS (Reuters) - Lorenzo Musetti has always been a player of contrasts — a mercurial talent whose beautiful, fluid game can light up a court one moment and unravel the next.
Now, the Italian craftsman, seeded eighth at the French Open, concedes those contradictions are not just on the surface, but deeply rooted in his personality.
After a tough outing at Roland Garros, the 23-year-old spoke openly about the internal battle that shapes both his tennis and his identity, describing himself as a man caught between instinct and discipline, sensitivity and grit.
"I'm a very, very sensitive guy, and I get carried away by my emotions," Musetti told reporters.
"Sometimes that instinct makes me do things on court I later hate watching back. But other times, that same instinct is what brings out the beauty in my game — the talent people talk about."
The Italian's Tuscan hometown of Carrara, known for its marble quarries and for being one of the few places where the sea meets the Alps, mirrors this duality.
"In Carrara, we say we're as tough as marble. Today didn't go the way I hoped, but I'm learning, and I'm trying to be both things — to weather storms like the sea, and to be as hard as marble when I need to be," he said after fighting from a set down to reach the fourth round.
Musetti said that for much of his career, he's been accused of lacking the fight to match his flair — a perception he doesn't entirely deny.
"People said I gave up too easily, that I didn't get my hands dirty. And for a while, that was partly true. But anyone who's followed me since I was a junior knows I've always had the will to suffer and fight, even if I complained too much along the way," he said.
Now, as he matures on and off the court, the soon-to-be father of two acknowledges that learning to reconcile these two sides — the instinctive artist and the hardened competitor — is the key to his future success.
"That double personality is part of who I am. The challenge is knowing when to listen to each side," he explained.
Musetti is about to be tested for a place in the quarter-finals as he meets another mercurial player in Denmark's Holger Rune.
(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
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