After upsetting the World No. 1 at the 2026 Paris Masters, Lorenzo Musetti’s first instinct was to find his son. The Italian shared a touching moment with his son, which has come under scrutiny from a tennis insider.
Musetti, the World No. 24, produced an impressive display against Alexander Zverev in their second-round clash, securing a 7-6(5), 6-2 victory in one hour and 40 minutes to hand the German a defeat in his first match as World No. 1. Zverev even held a 5-2 lead in the first-set tiebreak before Musetti fought back to win five points in a row.
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Musetti celebrated his stellar win by embracing his son on the court, one of two boys he shares with his partner, Veronica Confalonieri.
However, tennis journalist and podcast host Lucy Deuce playfully deemed the scene to be a “PR stunt.”
“This PR stunt been frying me Musetti pls,” the comment read.
The reaction stemmed from the reported drama between Lorenzo Musetti and Matteo Berrettini. Fans have been speculating about a fallout between the two Italian players for weeks after unverified claims emerged that Musetti was involved with Vanessa Bellini, the dancer who was Berrettini’s girlfriend for around a year until their split this summer. While neither player has addressed the rumors, Bellini has denounced the claims that she betrayed Berrettini.
Berrettini added to the noise after beating Tomas Martin Etcheverry at the Vienna Open. When asked whether Musetti’s Lyon triumph had been an inspiration, he paused, asked “Is it live?”, and then said: “I know he worked really hard to come back and I guess he deserved it.”
Lorenzo Musetti reacts to his “shocking” win over Alexander Zverev at Paris Masters
Lorenzo Musetti was left in awe of the “shocking” level he produced against Alexander Zverev at the Paris Masters. Speaking in his on-court interview, the 24-year-old said:
“It’s pretty shocking the level I was able to play in front of Sascha, who was serving really well, especially in the first set. It was really close. It could have gone both ways. The key was to stay there at 5/2. I played five great points in a row.”
In an interview with Sky Sports, the Italian also framed the victory as a “personal revenge” after being plagued by injuries throughout the season.
“It has an important meaning, a meaning of personal revenge for this difficult season, full of injuries. Today I really enjoyed myself on court, I had missed this passion. Now head to the next match,” Lorenzo Musetti said (translated from Italian).
Meanwhile, Zverev credited Musetti for his strong performance while refusing to make any excuse for his own “bad” display.
“To simplify it, he played really good and I played really bad, if you want to simplify it. Yeah, just the way it is,” Zverev said in his post-match press conference. “Well, improve, then today, probably everything, because I think this was not a very good match for me, I think maybe one of the worst in the last couple of months. Yeah, I was bad. It’s quite simple. There’s no excuses. It’s like that.”
Lorenzo Musetti will face Luca Van Assche in the Round of 16 on Thursday. The 22-year-old Frenchman beat 15th seed Learner Tien 7-6(4), 6-4 to set up a meeting with Musetti. Their head-to-head stands at 1-1, though the Italian secured a 7-6(5), 6-7(7), 6-4 victory at the Lyon Open last month, on the way to the title.
Edited by Urvi Mehra
