The "Other" Italian Teen, Musetti.

[jimlosaltos]

What do TPNers think of 19 yo Lorenzo Musetti? I've been really impressed in a limited sample. Amazing touch. Impeccable drop shots from improbable positions. Volley-lobs, angles, flys all over the court. Good one-hander. Doesn't have his friend Jannik Sinner's explosive groundies, but a much more rounded game. Took the first set off Tsitsipas recently by completely throwing the Greek off his game with the variety and moving him around. Tsitsi recovered to win but not after a lot of grimmacing.

P.S. I couldn't resist putting these two images together. Lorenzo's forehand gets dangerously close to imitating Gulbis' infamous "Swim" forehand here <g>. Musetti image by Corrine Dubreuil / FFT. I don't know the source for Gulbis' classic pose. Just has to lift the arms a little more. Has the knee bend right.

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[stroke]

Ha, I had not thought about that resemblance to the legendary Gulbis fh. Nice clay court game, but right now to me, I do not see him winning a FO. Sinner, I could see him winning it starting now.

[stotty]

Neither forehand is pretty. So many full western grips about these days. I haven't seen Musetti enough to make a judgement but Sinner looks like the real deal and has the temperament to go with it from what I have seen.

[don_budge]

Neither forehand is pretty. So many full western grips about these days. I haven't seen Musetti enough to make a judgement but Sinner looks like the real deal and has the temperament to go with it from what I have seen.

Ha, I had not thought about that resemblance to the legendary Gulbis fh. Nice clay court game, but right now to me, I do not see him winning a FO. Sinner, I could see him winning it starting now.

Historically Italians were predominately clay court specialists. It isn't so much that it isn't pretty, which it isn't, the question is how functional is it? If they ever speed up the hard courts and the grass for that matter...we will see how functional it really is. In fact...we will see just how dysfunctional it is. This forehand is a disaster waiting to happen on a low skidding ball. Don't get me wrong...these guys are extremely talented. Khachenov is another prime example. Kyrgios as well. Djokovic and Nadal are guilty as well. They have all demonstrated the lack of ability to handle balls on a fast hard court consistently. If they ever speed up the courts...good Lord. You will have balls rocketing out of the stadium via their frames right and left.

So these guys get away with it on the modern tennis tour. It's a tour that has been reengineered as it is not recognisable from the classic era. Nor from the initial post classic era where the courts had not been doctored to slow the game down from the bazooka racquets. The forehand evolved for the same reason the midcourt and net game became extinct...save for the drop shot. Musetti is a nice clay courter. I don't believe he will ever amount to much beyond that surface. He might have occasional glimpses of something exceeding expectations but from a theoretical point of view those will be few and far between.

That being said...he will get away with it on the modern courts somewhat. They have been engineered for this style of play. No wonder it looks on the side of "awful".

[rthodges]

Historically Italians were predominately clay court specialists. It isn't so much that it isn't pretty, which it isn't, the question is how functional is it? If they ever speed up the hard courts and the grass for that matter...we will see how functional it really is. In fact...we will see just how dysfunctional it is. This forehand is a disaster waiting to happen on a low skidding ball. Don't get me wrong...these guys are extremely talented. Khachenov is another prime example. Kyrgios as well. Djokovic and Nadal are guilty as well. They have all demonstrated the lack of ability to handle balls on a fast hard court consistently. If they ever speed up the courts...good Lord. You will have balls rocketing out of the stadium via their frames right and left.

So these guys get away with it on the modern tennis tour. It's a tour that has been reengineered as it is not recognisable from the classic era. Nor from the initial post classic era where the courts had not been doctored to slow the game down from the bazooka racquets. The forehand evolved for the same reason the midcourt and net game became extinct...save for the drop shot. Musetti is a nice clay courter. I don't believe he will ever amount to much beyond that surface. He might have occasional glimpses of something exceeding expectations but from a theoretical point of view those will be few and far between.

That being said...he will get away with it on the modern courts somewhat. They have been engineered for this style of play. No wonder it looks on the side of "awful".

Did you see his Acapulco run this year? I was especially impressed with his wins over Dimitrov and Schwartzman. He primarily stays behind the baseline but I was impressed with his touch at net and transition game when he had the advantage in a point. And another beautiful one hander! I don’t think his game is up to the challenge of winning a slam currently, but he seems to be in the habit of mentally rising to big moments unlike the majority of the past two “next gens,” most of whom I would classify as mental midgets.

[jimlosaltos]

Did you see his Acapulco run this year? I was especially impressed with his wins over Dimitrov and Schwartzman. He primarily stays behind the baseline but I was impressed with his touch at net and transition game when he had the advantage in a point. And another beautiful one hander! I don’t think his game is up to the challenge of winning a slam currently, but he seems to be in the habit of mentally rising to big moments unlike the majority of the past two “next gens,” most of whom I would classify as mental midgets.

Well put. The tactics and composure at 19 yo are impressive. I'm looking forward to seeing how Musetti adapts his game to other surfaces. Does he still stand way back to start? Or not? He certainly can play everywhere on the court. Very few players can volley that well, let alone at 19 yo. Seb Korda can venture forward and has a 6 ft 5 in/ers reach, but not that kind of touch.