Matteo Berrettini’s Racket and String Setup

How Does Matteo Berrettini’s Racket and String Help Him Play Such a Big Game?

Italian sensation Matteo Berrettini has been on the cusp of greatness for a while, consistently featuring in the closing stages of the biggest tournaments. Matteo has already reached a Wimbledon final and were it not for injury, could have easily achieved much more.    

The native Roman is every inch the gladiator at 6’5” tall, using his impressive height to full effect when it comes to unleashing unreturnable serves and blistering forehands that can overpower many of his peers. Yes, his backhand can be a little suspect, but on his day, few can live with Matteo’s power and skill.  

But what weapon does the man from Rome take to the tennis colosseums around the world? Here we dive into the racket and strings that the powerful Italian uses, often with brutal effect.

Berretini’s Racket

Like a vast number of top-tier professionals, Matteo endorses one frame while using a different model – but his racket is painted to create an impression of him playing and promoting the exact same retail model found online and in the shops. 

Understandably, given his aggressive playing style, Matteo is the poster boy for Head’s excellent Extreme series of ‘power and spin’ frames (covered in-depth here) but he actually uses a much older ‘pro-stock’ frame, albeit from the ‘Extreme family’.

Pro-stock frames are unavailable from retail outlets and are often molds of much older models that manufacturers will reserve for professionals who have very specific demands. Pros such as Andy Murray favor certain and very specific specifications, using a model that can actually be decades old. 

Critically, manufacturers will ensure that every racket issued to a professional is matched perfectly throughout their bag – something that is not guaranteed when it comes to retail frames where manufacturing tolerances can be a little less precise. So, when it comes to cherry-picking the perfect frame irrespective of that model’s age, professionals enjoy both specificity and consistency.  

In Matteo Berrettini’s instance, he uses what is known as a Head TGT285.2 pro-stock frame, otherwise known as the ‘Graphene XT Extreme Pro’ with the following specifications. 

Head: 100sq inch (645cm)

Weight: 326g 

Balance: 4-Points Head Light

Swing-weight: 350g

The most striking feature of Matteo’s set-up is the monstrous swing-weight, something that is achieved thanks to an injection of silicone in the handle and lead tape around the hoop to really beef things up. 

It is though a perfectly suitable specification for someone of Matteo’s height, talent, and athleticism, but we would advise 99% of club players to approach this racket configuration with real caution. However, fear not, you can easily find a racket that is a perfect fit for your game thanks to our comprehensive and super popular custom fitting service and we can even mimic the qualities found in Matteo’s frame, albeit in a more playable package.

Why does Berrettini use this frame? 

While Matteo does not use the exact frame he endorses, his pro-stock model is a genuine cousin of Head’s retail issue. Head markets their Extreme series as a ‘power and spin’ offering and the TGT285.2 model provides plenty of grunt thanks to its 100-inch footprint and bulky beam profile (24mm/26mm/23mm) coupled with a stout RA (stiffness rating) of 69. 

Then, the ‘open’ 16×19 string bed helps to create explosive spin, a feature that has become synonymous with Berrettini’s high-voltage game. 

Notably, Head adds significant weight to Matteo’s racket and this helps the Italian to temper his natural power. Were Berrettini to use a retail offering (around 300-305 grams) he would lose control and would launch balls far beyond the baseline, hence why Head added heft to compliment the muscular nature and power of Matteo’s game.

Berrettini’s String

For quite some time, Berrettini was one of the very few tour players representing the Signum brand, using their ‘Pro Firestorm’ string. And, after a little experimentation, it seems as though the Signum string has returned to Matteo’s frames. 

The Pro Firestorm string is a spin-centric co-polyester specifically targeted towards powerful players. It is a stiff string and when paired with an equally stiff frame such as Berrettini’s TGT285.2 the end result can be a recipe for tennis elbow.

But for a 27-year-old professional who has a physiotherapist on speed dial, the rewards for such a set-up (control, power, and spin), far outweigh the risk of undue strain on his tendons.

Matteo Berrettini Pro Tennis Player Racket & String Combo

Simply put, Berrettini’s game is unapologetically based upon power and spin, and his racket is the perfect foil for his brutal brand of full-bore tennis. 

This may deny the Italian an option of bringing Federer-like guile to his game, but sometimes professionals will elect to double down on their strengths, aiming to construct a winning methodology that aims to compensate for the weaker parts of their game.    

So, without question, Berrettini’s racket and string is the right tool for his game and when healthy and in full flow, his tennis is a sight to behold. Whether his game will be versatile enough to consistently win against more rounded performers is debatable, however, but on his day, he can steamroll over most opponents. 

What is the take-away for your game? 

Unless you are supremely fit and possess inordinate amounts of power, we would advocate against the weight and swing weight found in Matteo’s racket. But, if you share his penchant for power, spin, and aggression, you can still borrow from his approach to achieve a similar end result while using our excellent forehand domination course to add some zip like Matteo! 

The retail version of Head’s Extreme series endorsed by Berrettini is worthy of serious consideration for replicating his style of tennis. And don’t forget the retail and the pro-stock offerings share similar DNA in terms of head size, beam profile, stiffness, and string pattern. And of course, you can always modify the weight with a little lead-tape, mimicking the way in which Berrettini has tailored his frame.     

Ultimately, the biggest takeaway from assessing Matteo’s racket is how he has identified his playing style and chosen a racket that unreservedly accentuates his biggest strengths. And if you are committed to a definitive playing style and are determined to pursue that approach, choosing a complimentary racket and string for that purpose makes perfect sense.

And for the best advice in choosing the best racket and string for your specific game, check out our custom fitting service. We can help you find the perfect set-up to match your exact playing style – just like Matteo!