By Richard Pagliaro | Sunday, December 28, 2025Photo credit: Rob Newell/CameraSport
A streaking Lorenzo Musetti raced toward the blurring ball seemingly over-running it.
When Musetti is in full flow, conventional shotmaking is merely a platform for imaginative aerial acrobatics.
Musetti conjured a running tweener lob sending Carlos Alcaraz back to the baseline for a tweener of his own only to see the Italian dab a drop volley winner like a split of yellow paint on a blue canvas.
In an era of ATP annihilators, Musetti is the shotmaking artist capable of making the ball dance in devious gyrations prompting even the world’s premier players to applaud.
This season, Musetti took the opening set from Alcaraz in the Roland Garros semifinals before retiring after going down two sets to one.
Musetti won 18 of 26 matches—including reaching finals in Chengdu and Athens—and reached the year-end Nitto ATP Finals for the first time after Novak Djokovic withdrew.
World No. 8 Musetti is an all-court artist with a gambler’s feel for rush of the running strike.
The 23-year-old Musetti aims to indulge both passions when he plays the MGM Slam in Las Vegas on March 1st.
An elite eight-man group will play the MGM Slam at the T-Mobile Arena in Vegas.
Led by ATP world No. 6 and top-ranked American Taylor Fritz, the 10-point tiebreaker knockout singles-format event will begin at 4 p.m. PT.
Joining the former U.S. Open finalist will be fellow American Tommy Paul, Norwegian superstar Casper Ruud, Battle of the Sexes victor Nick Kyrgios, flashy Brazilian Joao Fonseca, entertaining Frenchman Gael Monfils, drop-shot master Alexander Bublik and Olympic bronze medalist Musetti, who plans to hit the casino during his down time.
Tickets for the MGM Slam are on sale via AXS.com now.
Reducing distance between his body and the baseline is one challenge Musetti faces trying to close the gap No. 1 Alcaraz and No. 2 Jannik Sinner, who swept Musetti in the US Open quarterfinals in September. Can Musetti strengthen his stamina, step in a bit more on faster surfaces and apply his versatility and all-court acumen to trouble the world’s Top 2, who have combined to capture the last eight straight Grand Slam championships?
It sure will be fun to find out.
We caught up with the father of two Musetti two days after Christmas for this Zoom call interview. The Muse Man discusses his goal for 2026, what he’s learned from facing Alcaraz, his tennis inspiration and lessons learned from parenthood.
Tennis Now: Lorenzo, what attracted you to playing the MGM Slam in March? When you’re in Las Vegas, what are you most looking forward to seeing and doing?
Lorenzo Musetti: Well, the format I think is pretty cool. It’s pretty fast. And I think also the field is pretty deep. We’ve got a lot of big names like Fritz, Fonseca, Tommy Paul. I think the fact that everyone is playing the exhibition before Indian Wells is something that is attracting me.
And especially in a place like Vegas. It’s the best city to play an exhibition, to play a sort of show of tennis and it’s someplace where I wanted to go. I’ve always been dreaming of going to a casino in Vegas. I think everybody—once in a lifetime—you have to do it. So I think I will go [to a casino] with my team just to have fun there.
Tennis Now: Lorenzo, back in 2019 you won the Australian Open junior title. It was an amazing match. What is your goal for this 2026 season? When it comes to Melbourne, does the surface suit your game or do you need to make some adjustments to go deep at the AO as you’ve gone deep in Paris, London and New York?
Lorenzo Musetti: Well, of course I have so many great memories from the Australian Open 2019—[winning] the title of the juniors. And I think, of course, you know a lot of time to play since the juniors.
Now that I’m playing the professional one, I’ve never experienced to play my best tennis in Australia. This year, at the beginning of the year, I played some good matches, including the loss to [Ben] Shelton, who was playing really well. But I think I can do better. I improved a lot this year on hard court.
So, we are really working hard to adapt my game. I don’t want to say a “hard court specialist”, but in a more aggressive style, so I think it will really fit well in Australia. So hopefully I can start with a really aggressive, you know, tennis that can really open up all the opportunities.
Tennis Now: You played a fantastic match against Carlos in the Roland Garros semifinals. What is the most enjoyable and exciting aspect of playing against Carlos? What is the biggest challenge about playing against Carlos?
Lorenzo Musetti: Thank you. Well on clay, especially, Carlos showed that he is the best player this year, so far. Because he won almost everything that he played. I had a big challenge, you know, to win a set.
To play at that level was really challenging and demanding for my body. That’s a side where I want to do better for myself. That’s what I’m doing and working really hard to improve.
And the thing that I like the most playing against Carlos is that every time I step on court with him, I came out with something, you know? Technical, tactical, physically especially and mentally. Like for example when I played Jannick at the US Open it was a loss that of course was a tough loss but its something that keeps you motivated to reach the level and to try to close the gap between me and them.
Tennis Now: You have a very elegant, free-flowing, beautiful style of play. Who were the players who influenced your style the most? What gives you the greatest joy about competing at the highest level of the sport?
Lorenzo Musetti: Well of course, Roger. I always got inspiration from Federer since I was a kid, since I started to play tennis.
So always Roger was—he still is—my idol.
Of course, competing at this level it’s a dream—it’s my childhood dream. That I have the possibility to live the life that I always dreamed about. And having my family behind me, already at a young age, is the perfect combination, I guess.
Tennis Now: You became a father for the second time this year. What is the most beautiful or important lesson you’ve learned from fatherhood?
Lorenzo Musetti: That’s a good question.
The best lesson, I think, is that what you show in the house or in your daily life, the kids will copy you.
So that gave me a lot of motivation not to do bad things on the court. Also I was a little bit, my behavior on court was a little bit nervous sometimes. I made some steps forward on that and hopefully I can make some steps forward even in the next season because I want to be an example. Not just for my kids, but for the kids that are approaching tennis and dreaming of becoming tennis players.
Tennis Now: Last question: You’ve played semifinals at Roland Garros and at Wimbledon and of course quarterfinals at US Open. If you could make the finals at any Grand Slam, which one would you choose? And which Slam do you feel your game is best suited for?
Lorenzo Musetti: Well, of course I think that Wimbledon has always been my favorite Slam to play on the court.
Because off court, I think Australia is really beautiful. I mean every Slam is unique because they are different.
But the one that I see more in my shoes, it’s Roland Garros on clay, which is probably my favorite surface.
