Matteo Berrettini’s Racquet – Player Profile

Updated 29th Aug, 2024
Matteo Berrettini is often called the “Hammer” thanks to his big serve and forehand combo. But what is Matteo Berrettini’s racquet?

Short bio

Before we move into Berrettini’s racquet, it would help to know more about him. Matteo has been ranked as high as number 6 in the world, but plenty of injuries have made his career have more ups and downs than he perhaps expected. He has already won ten singles titles, and his powerful game will likely gather a few more before he hangs up his racquet.

Matteo began playing tennis at age 4 with his brother Jacopo. He also competed in swimming, football and judo as a kid, but decided to focus on tennis around age 8.

Berrettini was the first Italian to reach quarter-finals at all four Grand Slams and in that sense paved the way for Jannik Sinner.

Country (sports)	Italy
Residence	Monte Carlo, Monaco
Born	12 April 1996 (age 28)[1] Rome, Italy
Height	1.96 m (6 ft 5 in)
Turned pro	2015
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Coach	Vincenzo Santopadre (2011-Oct 2023) Francisco Roig (Dec 2023-present)
Prize money	US $12,123,733

Berrettini’s racquet

Berrettini’s racquet looks like a HEAD Extreme MP, but most pros play with pro-stock racquets painted like the latest retail model.

Berrettini actually uses a HEAD Extreme pro stock and according to a Tennisnerd reader and Italian tennis forums (grazie mille!), he uses the TGT 285.2 (HEAD IG Extreme Pro) with silicone and lead tape added, to make it 326 grams with a balance of 32.6 cm (unstrung). This should create quite a hefty swing weight, around 350 or just below.

Matteo strings his racquet with Signum Pro Firestorm at 23 kg or 51 lbs (which might change slightly depending on the conditions). It does sound like a very powerful setup for a pro player, but the string is very stiff and control-oriented and the pros can control the ball thanks to fast swings and lots of top spin.

Berrettini’s Style

Berrettini plays pretty much like his racquet and physique suggests, with BIG power. He can absolutely murder the ball on both the backhand and the forehand wing, and has a huge serve. His issue is that he tends to overhit when the tempo increases. Partly because it is not easy to move fast when you are 1.96 m (6′.5″) and 95 kg (209 lbs) and also because his style is based on power and spin, which requires a longer swing. Still, he has won a title on grass, which means the potential for bigger things is there.

At times this style of play must be limiting, but he has still managed to climb to the top ten of the rankings, which means he has found a way to manage it in a good way. He is also only 23 years of age, which means he has a lot of time to improve. And he would need that to be able to consistently beat the players ranked above him. This was evident at the 2019 ATP Finals, where he lost his matches quite badly. Let us call it a learning experience.

The Serve

Berrettini’s serve is his major weapon because it does so much damage. It’s the same reason he’s so good on grass. It’s just a huge advantage that makes him dominate, thanks to his high in percentage and frequent aces/unreturnable serves. If he doesn’t win on the serve, more often than not it sets up a short ball that he can put away.

The Forehand and Backhand

Any shorter ball will be heavily punished by his forehand, which is one of the best forehands in the world. The backhand isn’t as good, but Berrettini somehow makes it work.

He has a really nice backhand slice that does wonders on grass, but it’s also serviceable on hard courts. Mostly, though, it’s about his confidence right now.