Lorenzo Musetti comes from Carrara, the Tuscan town that gives the world its marble, and his one-handed backhand fits the catalogue: widely rated the most beautiful stroke on tour and a real weapon, not an ornament. Born in 2002, he is an all-court counterpuncher who bends rallies to his shape rather than breaking them. The breakthroughs followed: a Wimbledon semi-final in 2024, ended by Novak Djokovic, then the last four at Roland Garros in 2025. At the Paris Olympics he beat Felix Auger-Aliassime for bronze, Italy's first Olympic tennis medal in a hundred years.
The climb peaked at world No. 5 in January 2026, and the season opened as if he would go higher: a final in Hong Kong, then an Australian Open quarter-final in which he led Djokovic two sets to love before his body gave out. A leg injury, aggravated at his home event in Rome, cost him Roland Garros, and the ranking slid while he healed. The talent was never the question. At 24, durability is.
Four. That is how many match points Lorenzo Musetti saved against Flavio Cobolli in the Lyon semifinal, a set down, before he beat Taylor Fritz 6-3 6-4 in the final on Sunday for his third career tour title and his first since 2022.
Match taleTwo places. That is how far both Valentin Vacherot and Luciano Darderi climbed this week, enough to put each into the ATP top 20, at 19 and 20, while the top 10 above them did not move at all. Vacherot's rise makes him the first man from Monaco ranked in the top 20.
Ranking tale