It would be the sound of the Italian rallying cry: “Forza!”
Court No. 1 has grown accustomed to “Forza!” chants from the stands at this tournament, as was the case Wednesday when No. 25 seed Lorenzo Musetti upset No. 13 seed Taylor Fritz with a 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 quarterfinal victory to make him the fourth Italian to reach the semifinals at Wimbledon, after Nicola Piertrangeli in 1960, Matteo Berrettini in 2021 and current No. 1 Jannik Sinner last year.
He follows those men and, more recently, his compatriot Jasmine Paolini, seeded seventh here, who beat American Emma Navarro in three sets on Tuesday to become the first Italian woman to reach a semi-final at Wimbledon.
Together, Musetti and Paolini helped Wimbledon become the second time in history that an Italian man and woman have reached the semi-finals of a Grand Slam – the first time, of course, being when Paolini and Sinner did so at Roland Garros last month.
Paolini will face veteran Donna Vekic, who will be making her first Grand Slam semifinal on Thursday in her 43rd major appearance. Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan will face Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic in the other women’s semifinal on Thursday after winning the quarterfinals on Wednesday.
Musetti’s prize for his triumph, which took place in front of Queen Camilla, who came from the royal box on Centre Court and joined the crowd at one point during the match, is a meeting with tennis royalty. Novak Djokovic was forced out of the other men’s quarter-final on Wednesday when Australia’s Alex de Minaur withdrew before their clash with a hip injury.
The gap between the two men is wide in terms of experience: Musetti, 22, will be playing in the first Grand Slam semi-final of his career. Djokovic, 37, will equal Roger Federer’s record for appearances in the men’s singles semi-finals at Wimbledon, with 13.
“He probably knows the surface and the stadium better than I do, that’s for sure,” Musetti said, delivering the understatement with a smile.
Musetti has had time to study the grass over the past ten days, but that may not be a positive. The Italian’s victory over Fritz was his second five-setter of the fortnight, and he goes into Friday’s clash having spent 15 hours and 53 minutes on court, while Djokovic will be relatively fresh.
The Serb spent 10 hours and 6 minutes on court and will have had an extra day to rest his knee which was surgically repaired on June 5. He also has a 5-1 career record against Musetti and recently came back to beat the youngster after leading him two sets to one at Roland Garros – three years after Djokovic came back to beat Musetti after the Italian led two sets to zero and retired in the fifth set at Roland Garros.
Musetti may be looking forward to playing Djokovic on grass for a change.
He moved around quite well Wednesday in a battle that rarely saw Fritz willingly leave the baseline.
Fritz was also competing for his first Grand Slam semifinal spot, and he was the more in-form player after winning the title at a grass-court warm-up tournament in Eastbourne, England, ahead of Wimbledon. He was seeking revenge for a quarterfinal loss here in 2022, when he lost in a tight five-set marathon to Rafael Nadal, and said he was nervous in the first set on Wednesday.
If he was nervous at the start, it didn’t show. The 26-year-old Californian started strongly, dictating the points with good serves and lightning groundstrokes.
Musetti, to his credit, tried to use some variation in his game against Fritz. The Italian is one of the few players on tour to use a one-handed backhand, and he is able to mix slices, drop shots and shots that change the shape of a rally, not just the pace.
His touch wasn’t dexterous enough in the first set and he kept hitting the ball high in the net, but he persisted. In the end, this frustrated Fritz.
“It’s probably something I find more, how to say, worse for the other guys to not have the same shot every time,” Musetti said. “Especially with a good baseliner like Taylor, if I play flat every time, I can’t win a point.”
Fritz said he was hampered by the wind on No. 1 Court and struggled to play his power game against Mustetti’s varied shot selection. The American said earlier this week that he prefers grass because it instantly rewards power shots, making it worth the risk of unloading all his power on a single groundstroke.
But between the conditions affecting his serve and the subtle variation of the ball he received from Musetti, Fritz couldn’t find his rhythm. Musetti didn’t need to play the cleanest match of his career. He just needed to keep Fritz guessing.
“I think the biggest thing is when I’m playing against someone who plays like him, I really have to be able to position myself and generate power, really figure out where I want to hit it,” Fritz said. “I have to be very precise because I’m not going to be able to hit the ball as hard on dead slices.”
Fritz will look to bounce back at the Paris Olympics, which begin later this month, but said he was slightly concerned about an injury he suffered at Roland Garros that affects him more when sliding on clay than on grass.
He said he suffered from sports pubalgia, also known as a sports hernia, which usually occurs in the groin or lower abdomen.
“It was much better because on grass I don’t slide,” Fritz said. “It’s more of an injury that really bothers me when I slide, spreading my legs a lot.”
Musetti, meanwhile, is hoping to face Djokovic for the seventh time more mature, more experienced and more accomplished than they last met at Roland Garros. He called Wednesday’s victory the best day of his career, a win he attributes to all the lessons he’s learned from losing to players like Djokovic in the past.
“The losses against all the great champions probably made me think and made me work harder,” Musetti said. “Today’s win is probably the result of that. I think I have a chance with (Novak) in the next round.”