Lorenzo Musetti offers an exciting contradiction: his tennis game is both vintage and evolving.
His proficiency on clay was clear from a young age – at just 18 years old, the young Italian reached the final 16 in his Roland Garros debut in 2021, where he fell to the eventual champion Novak Djokovic. His latest French campaign in 2025 took him as far as the semifinals, where he played the formidable Carlos Alcaraz.
Now, it’s clear the world is witnessing a Musetti evolution. The world No.5 is no longer renowned as solely an accomplished claycourt player, but is evolving to an all-court superstar following his grasscourt success – a Queen’s Club final and a Wimbledon semifinal run in 2024 – and hardcourt quarterfinal finishes at US Open 2025 and Australian Open 2026.
At the latter, he led Novak Djokovic by two sets to love before his campaign was brought to a premature end by injury.
“Now I'm feeling more complete in general,” the Italian said on The Sit-Down podcast this week. “My favourite surface is clay, which you know, I was born on clay. But I'm trying to improve and try to become more aggressive with my tennis game, and I think it's really paying off.”
After reaching the final at Hong Kong 2026, where Musetti fell to Alexander Bublik, the Italian vaulted in the rankings to crack the top five. This marks a huge feat for any player, but Musetti is determined not to let it shake his focus.
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“I'm proud of it. But I don't want to be attached to those things, because I think it will give you an extra pressure on playing,” Musetti mused. “So, it's something that I've been dealing with – pressure. So [I] have to be careful of that.
“The top five is something that I … don't feel like it's like a finishing point. It's a starting point for me.
“Maybe I will never go higher, but my mentality is trying to go higher.”
Musetti’s arsenal of weapons have all given him that edge that has helped boost his position in the rankings. One of the more distinctive weapons is his one-handed backhand, a pivotal tool in what he describes as his vintage playing style.
“I think vintage is nice because it’s something old, but … it’s sort of [an] improvement on the old,” he said.
“I always played the one-handed backhand since I started to play tennis. When I was four, I [was] in my grandmother's house with my father. He was throwing me balls and I was playing one-handed backhand naturally.
“I think playing the one-handed backhand, probably that defines more my game than every other shot in my background."
Stan Wawrinka, whose phenomenal 20-year journey at Melbourne Park ended in the third round at AO 2026, is also renowned for his one-handed backhand.
When asked who the Swiss thought would carry on the legacy of this tricky shot, Wawrinka made a special mention of Musetti.
“For me, it’s one of my favourite shots to watch,” Wawrinka said. “We can see now one I really love is Musetti’s backhand. His beautiful game and his backhand [are] unbelievable, it’s so nice to watch.”
Flattered to receive praise from such an esteemed player who Musetti has described as the ‘king of the one-handed backhand’, the 23-year-old is determined to preserve this vintage stroke.
“I think it's something that … seems like it’s going to disappear,” he said.
“There are literally a few in the top hundred [that use it]. So unfortunately, because I really like [it] but in modern days, modern tennis, I think it's really really hard to compete with one-handed backhand. But hopefully I can keep the one-handed backhand alive.”
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