One win from Turin Lorenzo Musetti faces Novak Djokovic in Athens
By the time Lorenzo Musetti dropped to his knees under the lights of Athens, you could almost hear the collective heartbeat of Italy pause.
One match point down, a relentless American across the net, and a mountain still left to climb. Not just to the final, but to the doorstep of Turin. And somehow, he’s still standing.
On Friday night, Musetti edged past Sebastian Korda 6-0, 5-7, 7-5 in a match that oscillated between brilliance and brinkmanship.
The win didn’t just push him into the final of the ATP 250 event in Athens, it preserved his last, flickering shot at a dream debut in the Nitto ATP Finals, set to unfold in front of a home crowd in Turin.
All that stands in his way now is Novak Djokovic.
That’s right. The 24-time Grand Slam titan, who’s made a habit of turning finals into one-man exhibitions, is next. Musetti trails Djokovic 1-8 in their head-to-head meetings. So the mountain just grew a little steeper.
“I think we both played a fantastic match,” Musetti said afterward, still flushed from the emotional high. “The level was getting higher, and the adrenaline was intense. I am super happy with the attitude I showed on court and the spirit I am trying to put in every day.”
Spirit. That might’ve been the difference.
When Korda stood a single point from victory at 5-4 in the third, Musetti didn’t flinch. He flung down an ace, held serve, and then in a twist of fate reserved for players who refuse to fade broke Korda in the very next game. From there, it was a sprint to the finish, sealed with a clenched fist and a primal roar.
It was a gutsy performance, one that has become a quiet theme for Musetti this season. Though titles have been elusive — his last one came back in Naples, 2022 — the fight has never really left him.
He reached finals in Barcelona and Chengdu this year, only to fall short. But Athens has a different feel. There’s more than a trophy on the line here. There’s Turin. There’s a seat at tennis’ most exclusive dinner party.
Currently, Felix Auger-Aliassime holds the eighth and final qualifying slot for the season-ending showdown. If Musetti wins in Athens, he leapfrogs him. And if he does, he’ll land right in the Bjorn Borg Group alongside Jannik Sinner, Alexander Zverev, and Ben Shelton.
But that’s all hypothetical. Right now, reality has a name, and it’s Djokovic.
Saturday’s final will test every inch of the Italian. Djokovic, notoriously unforgiving in finals, especially against younger challengers, will not be in the business of handing out dreams.
Yet if Friday taught us anything, it’s that Musetti’s script this week isn’t sticking to logic. It’s writing itself in adrenaline, in defiance, in moments like that match point ace that kept him breathing.
