“It cost me today” – physical issues hamper Musetti in Monte-Carlo final
The Italian started brightly in the Monaco showpiece, before fading rapidly in the second and third sets
Lorenzo Musetti struggles at Monte-Carlo, 2025 © Chryslène Caillaud / Psnewz
It is self-evident in the lopsided nature of the 3-6, 6-1, 6-0 scoreline that something drastic affected Lorenzo Musetti‘s performance in the latter two sets of his Monte-Carlo Masters final defeat at the hands of Carlos Alcaraz.
Until the arrival of the third set, there was little sign of any apparent injury to the Italian, so one had to assume that the weight of the occasion and the sheer step-up in quality from his opponent were the key factors in Musetti’s rapid plight.
Indeed, at least the latter of these factors remains the central reason for Musetti’s defeat. Nonetheless, it was puzzling to see him put together such a courageous, commanding and high-quality first set only to collapse without any real hint of a fight across the second half of the contest.
As it turns out, there was an underlying physical issue that hampered the Italian’s chances in this final. While not yet known by Musetti or his team whether this was primarily caused by an accumulation of high-tension matches, fatigue, or an injury, the world No 16 was clear in his post-match press conference that all had not been well.
“We still don’t know yet exactly, but of course we are going to do some exams in the next days,” he told reporters just an hour or so after coming off court.
“The thing is that, as you probably saw, I couldn’t finish the match properly, but, you know, in a final, I didn’t want to retire.
“Probably, you know, the toughness of the long week and the long matches that I played, at the end it cost me a little bit today.”
musetti disappointed after fading physically in monte-carlo final
Musetti started one of the biggest matches of his career – eclipsed perhaps only by last season’s Wimbledon semi-final – in hugely impressive style. His aesthetically pleasing game was operating wonderfully, with pace and depth flowing freely off both wings. He looked energised, focused and up for the challenge.
All of that dissipated alarmingly quickly with the arrival of the second set as Alcaraz upped his game and Musetti’s drastically fell apart.
The jarring disparity between how the match started and how it finished is the greatest source of frustration for the Italian.
“I mean, yeah, of course,” Musetti replied when asked whether he felt frustrated by today’s events.
“Especially after the first set, which I played probably my best tennis, and of course I was feeling the ball really well today. I had a clear mind what I had to do.
“But physically I was struggling… the physical problems and the fatigue and all the, let’s say, stress accumulated in the past days, past matches, they were there. So unfortunately I couldn’t finish the match. I mean, I couldn’t, let’s say, fight till the end.”
lessons and positives aplenty for musetti after excellent monte-carlo run
Interesting comments, as Musetti stops well short of saying he believes he was carrying an actual injury. Mileage in the legs is part and parcel of what makes playing in and winning a tournament final so challenging. It shouldn’t really be pointed to as a reason for losing one.
But this is one of the many insightful lessons that Musetti can take away from this excellent run in Monte-Carlo this week – one which culminated in a maiden Masters 1000 final.
“I take a lot of positive stuff. You know, I have reached some of my goals,” he continued.
“This week gave me the confidence to be more ambitious even in bigger tournaments like this one or, for example, in French Open. That’s a massive point of the season, for me really important, which I don’t have so many points to defend. So hopefully I can be prepared, you know, to do some great things there.”
Whether it was fatigue, tension or injury that hampered Musetti today, the 23-year-old leaves Monaco with two top-10 wins under his belt – including dethroning a former three-time champion in Stefanos Tsitsipas – and showed when in full-flight, he can even go toe-to-toe with Alcaraz on arguably the Spaniard’s favourite surface.
With another two months of European clay-court action ahead of him, there is little doubt that Musetti has put himself in a superb position to make huge strides over this stretch of the season.
