Matteo Berrettini calls it "disrespectful" to blame his girlfriend Melissa Satta for his performances

Matteo Berrettini has once again slammed those who have been trolling him and his girlfriend Melissa Satta ever since they started dating each other. The Italian tennis star stated that it is "disrespectful" to deride a professional athlete because of his personal life.

Berrettini and Italian model-cum-television presenter Satta recently began dating. The pair have received flak from fans ever since, especially considering the tennis player's substandard performances. Although the couple have already responded to their critics a few times, Berrettini has once again been asked about their photographs being published across tabloids.

Speaking to Style Magazine recently, Berrettini remarked that he could not understand how a personal relationship was seen as a "distraction" in his profession. He said that it was like blaming a journalist's family for his poor work.

“At this point in life, seeing a relationship as a distraction for a professional athlete seems disrespectful to me," Matteo Berrettini said. "It would be like saying that a journalist writes worse articles because he has a wife and children. It is something that does not make any kind of sense, does it?”

Berrettini has struggled with poor form and injuries for quite a few months, with his win-loss record for the 2023 season standing at 7-6. He faced opening-round exits at the Australian Open, BNP Paribas Open, and in Miami, losing to Andy Murray, Taro Daniel, and Mackenzie McDonald, respectively.

During his second-round clash against Argentina's Francisco Cerundolo at the 2023 Monte-Carlo Open, the Italian player suffered a grade 2 tear in his internal oblique muscle, forcing him to withdraw before his match against Holger Rune. He also pulled out of the upcoming Masters tournament in Madrid, beginning on Wednesday, April 26.

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Matteo Berrettini's girlfriend Melissa Satta calls out naysayers

Matteo Berrettini

Matteo Berrettini's girlfriend Melissa Satta vented her frustration a few days ago as she spoke about the couple being harassed online for a while.

In a video that she shared on her Instagram story, the model addressed the issue, saying that "bullying" of this kind should not exist in this day and age.

"I have been receiving a lot of messages of insults, bullying, and sexism for months," Satta said. "I am attacked for the sentimental story I am experiencing. In 2023 this type of bullying must not exist. I have chosen and accepted to be a public figure and all that it entails — paparazzi, questions, gossip. I show my daily life on social network. But I also love to keep some things to myself."

"I don't even know what I'm accused of? Of being a woman? Why is my partner experiencing a more difficult moment? If the opposite had happened? Would the man have been blamed?" she added.

Berrettini, meanwhile, has begun his rehabilitation process in Barcelona with Dr. Angel Ruiz Cotorro, who also happens to be Rafael Nadal's doctor.