Lorenzo Musetti has made steady strides in his career in 2025.
He ended 2024 by helping Italy defend the Davis Cup, in addition to the Olympic bronze medal he claimed at the Paris Games.
This season the 23-year-old broke into the top 10 and reached his first Masters 1000 final. Furthermore, Musetti made the French Open semi-finals for the first time.
Now he wants to turn some of these late tournament defeats into victories and there is one other target that Musetti has in mind.
Lorenzo Musetti wants to qualify for the 2025 ATP Finals
Tennis players set different goals either before or during the tennis season.
In addition to winning Grand Slams, some may aim to win their first title, or to beat a player they have yet to defeat.
Musetti reached the second Grand Slam semi-final of his career at Roland Garros, where he lost to Carlos Alcaraz. This came almost a year after losing in the last four at Wimbledon to Novak Djokovic.
With the 2025 season now past the halfway mark, Musetti told the ATP’s website that his main goal is to qualify for the ATP Finals for the first time.
“Definitely [Turin] is my biggest goal. But of course I don’t want to put too much pressure on myself. We are halfway through the season, so definitely there’s many, many points to catch,” Musetti said.
“And of course here in the North American swing there are many with the two Masters 1000s and the US Open. So definitely one of my goals is to be really consistent and try to get as many points as possible.”
Lorenzo Musetti says his one-handed backhand is harder to play on quicker courts
Musetti is one of the small group of players on the ATP Tour that play one-handed backhands.
It is a shot seen less frequently on tour than in previous eras, but the Italian is helping to keep it alive and when in full flow, the one-handed backhand is an important shot for him that causes plenty of problems.
But he admitted it is most difficult to play his backhand on grass and hard courts, which are much quicker than his favourite clay courts, where he has enjoyed most of his success on tour so far.
“When I feel the ball, when I play well, I can stay [in extended backhand-to-backhand exchanges]. I think that’s not a disadvantage for me,” he said.
“On clay you have a little bit more time to defend yourself and to recover space. Here on hard courts or grass, the ball is coming faster and you have to be quicker.
“Especially on the return side, there’s many disadvantages, I would say, if you play one‑handed backhand.”
