The fairy tale of Lorenzo Musetti and Simone Tartarini did not begin on Centre Court at Monte Carlo, nor with an Olympic medal. It started many years earlier with little eight-year-old Lorenzo, away from the limelight, in a provincial club where tennis is taught one stroke at a time and projects are built over time, without haste and without promises.

Simone Tartarini is today known as the man behind Musetti’s rise—the Carrara-born talent who reached the ATP Top 10 (peaking at No. 5?). But before being “Lorenzo’s coach,” he was—and still is—a tennis master in the truest sense of the word. One who chose the everyday routine over glamour, long-term work over the illusion of immediate results.

In the ’90s, as a young player, Tartarini attained a respectable Italian ranking (B3, equivalent to today’s 2.4), but at 18 he decided to leave competitive play. He enrolled at university, became a father, and by the age of 24 was already teaching at clubs. In 1994 he earned the title of FIT (now FITP) National Coach. Since 2006 he has headed the competitive section at Circolo Tennis La Spezia, where he develops athletes methodically, without shortcuts.

Before Musetti, there were Giacomo Tartarini—ranked among Europe’s top 20 Under-14 players—and Costanza Traversi, a three-time Italian junior champion. Their progress shows that Musetti’s development was not an isolated event but the coherent result of a technical and human framework built over time.

With Lorenzo, the relationship began in childhood and never stopped. In 2019 came the Junior Australian Open title. In 2020, the victory over Wawrinka in Rome. Then the bronze medal at the Paris 2024 Olympics, the semi-final at Wimbledon and, now, a renewed maturity reflected in his clay-court season results, a leap up the rankings, and at least a semi-final at Roland Garros 2025.

In Italy, something curious—almost paradoxical—has happened. While Jannik Sinner built around himself a hyper-specialised team with figures of the highest international profile such as Darren Cahill and Simone Vagnozzi, and while other young players on the tour—from Alcaraz downward—entrusted themselves to full, structured staff, forged outside their original circle, Lorenzo Musetti made a choice that seems simple but is, in fact, far more radical: he changed no one.

He stayed with Simone Tartarini, the coach who has trained him since he was eight. A relationship that, precisely because of its continuity and its “club-level” origins, has raised more than a few eyebrows in the tennis world.
But is he really still with the coach from his childhood?
Can a “provincial” coach suffice to guide a talent through the ATP circuit?

These were the questions—sometimes whispered, other times voiced publicly—that accompanied the Musetti-Tartarini duo, as if loyalty were a weakness rather than a virtue. In a world where changing coaches is often seen as a sign of progress, remaining put seemed to many a limitation.

Yet, precisely that bond, which never broke, served as an anchor in difficult moments, during lapses in continuity, and under the growing pressures of the tour. While others experimented, Musetti chose to stay with the person who knows him inside out. A silent master who guides him without slogans or showboating, but with a deep, almost instinctive understanding of the boy and the player.

In tennis, results are important. But for Lorenzo Musetti, the real leap happened off the court.

An evolution that began long ago
When asked where Musetti’s recent leap in quality comes from, Tartarini has no doubt that the process has been underway for some time:

“Yes, it certainly starts a bit further back, even though the most significant results have been seen since Monte Carlo. But in my opinion, it’s a journey Lorenzo has been on for some time. Already in Miami, for instance, he won matches playing poorly, coming back after losing the first set—something quite unusual for him. That shows he’s working on himself, especially from a mental standpoint.”

This passage highlights that, beyond the on-court results, the real transformation occurred in Musetti’s mind: the ability to remain composed in difficult moments is not a natural gift but the fruit of steady work.

Maturity off the court and never technical limitations
People often think an athlete’s progress is measured solely by wins and losses. Tartarini, instead, focuses attention on what happens in Lorenzo’s private life:

“He’s a boy who has always been aware of his character flaws, and he’s begun working on them seriously. Now we’re starting to see the first fruits of this labour, and I believe there will be even more as he reaches full maturity. The true achievement, in my view, Lorenzo has gained off the court, with a profound change in his personal life—including becoming a father. At 23, he became a dad, and that obviously changes your life. Fears, insecurities, everything is amplified. But now he’s facing it all with a new awareness.”

Fatherhood imposed new responsibilities and anxieties on Musetti, amplifying the need to find inner balance. According to Tartarini, this has directly impacted the mental stability displayed on court: no longer just a talent to be nurtured, but a man who must confront fears and uncertainties.

Consistency and results
Musetti’s biggest hurdle has always been consistency—the capacity to maintain a high level of performance over time:

“Yes. Lorenzo has always shown he can produce top-level results. The problem was precisely consistency—the ability to keep that level over time. Now that he’s gone through this inner journey, the results are starting to come on court as well.”

Tartarini reiterates that it’s not just about technique or physical preparation, but a psychological maturation that allows Musetti not to lose himself after a slump. This automatic calmness, now more solid, is what in recent tournaments has enabled the Carrara lad to take off more steadily.

From tennis coach to father-like figure
The bond between Musetti and Tartarini was born in the tennis school, when Lorenzo was still a child. For the coach, it is an emotion with deep roots:

“Immense. Every match is an emotion. I feel more like a tennis master than a professional coach. I started with him in the tennis school, and now here we are together on the ATP tour. It’s truly a fairy tale. Even as a junior, he gave me great satisfaction, like when he won the Orange Bowl. But the most emotional moment was last year with the Olympic medal—moments that will remain forever. Yet, I always say: more than the victories themselves, it’s the journey that gives you joy. Those are the destinations, of course, but the journey is what counts.”

Unlike the typical coach-player relationships in professional tennis, theirs is an intimacy that borders on the familial: the “master” and the “student” have never hidden a relationship of great trust, nourished by a shared past that dates back to Lorenzo’s childhood.

“Today Musetti listened to me more”: The Roland Garros 2025 Quarter-Finals
In the midst of Roland Garros 2025, Tartarini commented on Musetti’s match with words that reveal how much attention he pays to his protégé’s mental state:

“He felt mentally more tired than physically. He was good at winning the first set, then in the third he was able to stay in there, hold serve at 5-5, and then secure the break that gave him the set. In the fourth set he raised his level, hitting the ball well. These are battles that help a player step up.”

The coach did not hide the overall fatigue accumulated by Musetti, but he especially appreciated that, under pressure, the boy could maintain the “minimum clarity of thought” needed to prevail:

“He listened to me more than usual. I often tell him to ‘be quiet’ but he doesn’t listen; today, however, he was good at staying focused, showing he still had that bit of clarity.”

At a time when many suggest Musetti should hire a more renowned coach, these words underline how the trust between them is so solid that it creates an almost perfect space for dialogue and concentration.

Mental fatigue and moments of tension
A top-level player’s path is not only made of successes: there are tense moments, such as when his last shot unintentionally struck a line judge. Even on that occasion, Tartarini commented with a mix of concern and irony:

“I thought he was an idiot—he did it unintentionally but risked a lot. Our relationship is very high-level; after 15 years together, I am the friend, the father, the uncle. Even during the difficult moment we went through, we never stopped believing in each other.”

Those words sum it all up: faced with that incident, with Lorenzo’s often profane loquacity (he is a “true Tuscan swearer”), a big-name coach, perhaps boasting an ATP success record, would likely have opted for a more formal reprimand. Tartarini reads these episodes as signs of tension, but he has never questioned the unity of their project.

Anecdotes of a shared journey
Behind the great achievements lie sacrifices and simple daily gestures. Tartarini recalls them fondly:

“Every now and then, unintentionally, some anecdote comes out, like the times we slept in the same bed to save money. At the Junior Australian Open, for example, partly out of habit, partly to save. Then we made room for ourselves.”

It’s no small detail: spending nights together, sharing cramped spaces, cemented an affinity so deep that today, talking about an “external coach” would risk undermining a trust built brick by brick.

Wimbledon or the Olympics: emotions that remain
When comparing the most significant moments, Tartarini calls himself “romantic” and acknowledges the extraordinary value of the Olympic medal:

“We must admit I’m romantic, and for me the Olympics carry great significance. The paths of Wimbledon and the Olympics are different, but it truly was remarkable. Winning an Olympic medal marks your life, and the journey we took was very demanding, both in the tournaments leading up to Paris 2024 and in the various steps to get to the bronze.”

While recognising the importance of a Grand Slam like Wimbledon, for Tartarini the Olympic dimension has a “notable value” that goes beyond simple ATP tour results.

But there is also technique. Work on the forehand and the serve
Even on a technical level, the coach highlights his pupil’s most evident improvements:

“The forehand and the serve are the strokes he has improved the most. With the serve, we modified the action. During the off-season we had little time to try changing it. He had arm pain during the Australian Open; once the Australian Slam was over, we stopped and before heading to South America we trained intensively for two weeks. We shortened the motion, which now gives him total control of his toss. We simplified the movement.”

Tartarini’s words speak of a laboratory: these were not spectacular interventions but targeted tweaks designed to give Musetti “complete control” of his fundamentals, reducing injury risk and improving management of key moments.

From junior beginnings to the breakthrough in the big leagues
Recounting the first steps in the professional circuit, Tartarini recalls how the victory in Florence (Trofeo Città di Firenze 2018) marked a turning point:

“From there he took off before winning the Junior Australian Open at 16, but he had already reached the Wimbledon quarters and the US Open semi-finals. When we entered the professional world, we stopped climbing one ladder and started climbing another. We began to believe when we beat Wawrinka in Rome. We’re thinking step by step without any issue. Is he growing in Sinner’s shadow? There is no rivalry. It’s obvious that one who wins two Slams and another who only takes an Olympic bronze has more visibility. But there is no duel.”

The anecdote about the match against Wawrinka in Rome echoes that moment when Musetti and Tartarini realized they could truly measure themselves with the big names: a gradual “step by step” process that never stopped despite external pressures.

An indissoluble bond
All these passages lead to one conclusion: Musetti’s strength lies not only in his technical talent but in the constant synergy with Simone Tartarini. In an Italian context often inclined to ask for “big-name” coaches when a player reaches the top, the Musetti–Tartarini duo exemplifies how mutual trust, built over time, can mean more than any résumé. It is unlikely that Musetti, today, can imagine another coach by his side: their path—made of shared bed-and-breakfasts, financial sacrifices, and nights spent analysing tennis—cannot be replaced by easy “international” slogans. The real magic, if anything, lies in the fact that Tartarini knows every nuance of Lorenzo—and knows precisely when to tell him, in a moment of mental fatigue, to “shut up” and focus. In a world where many would impose high-profile names, Musetti chose to cultivate what Tartarini calls “a fairy tale”: a journey of more than fifteen years, whose plot is written by friendship, daily care, and a professional capable of being “tennis master, friend, second father, and uncle” to his pupil.