We spend a day off in Stockholm with Italian tennis star Matteo Berrettini in the midst of his run at Stockholm’s BNP Paribas Nordic Open
The BNP Paribas Nordic Open has kicked off at Stockholm’s historic Kungliga Tennishallen and a smorgasbord of international tennis stars have descended on the city to compete. Among them, Italian superstar (and Boss runway model) Matteo Berrettini. After beating fellow Italian Luciano Darderi in round one, Berrettini was knocked out of the tournament by Dominic Stephan Stricker in round two (he noted that he loved spending time in Sweden and playing the Stockholm tournament and looks forward to returning next year).
Between rounds, however, Berrettini enjoyed a day off in Stockholm. He invited Vogue Scandinavia along as he got in some practice, did crosswords and – of course – braved to cold to get some Italian food.
"Hey Vogue Scandinavia. This is Matteo Berrettini here. I'm in town to play the BNP Paribas Nordic Open. Join me for the day and I'll show you what I do in a day of training in Stockholm."
Breakfast for the day
"The most important step of the day is having a good breakfast. I have some eggs, some yogurt and an Americano coffee. Even though I am Italian, I don't mind a good Americano with a little bit of milk in the morning."
Heading out
"Heading out to make my way to the training site in Stockholm."
Tournament transport
"Heading to the site with the fitness guy, tennis coach, physio and our driver [Peter]. It's a good day in Stockholm, sunny but cold."
Sweaty practice session
"Hitting some balls with the coach. The problem is, he's not sweating and I am sweating. Hopefully at the end of practice, he's going to be sweaty as well."
Post practice session
Matteo, post-practice, re-strings his racket. "I have just finished practice. In the end he didn't sweat! And I think we need new strings."
Lunch with the team on-site
"It's lunchtime. Here we have coach eating carbonara. For me I love the meatballs and potatoes – typical Swedish. I love the meatballs here."
Time for a treatment
"Just about to get started with my treatment. I have a good friend of mine here, Lorenzo Sonego, he is about to play doubles. He is getting ready. Good luck to Lorenzo!"
Crosswords and chilling before dinner
"Just got back to the room, I've done my treatment – I mean my physio did it, I was just chilling on the treatment table! Now I am back in the room, chilling a little bit before dinner, doing some crosswords in Italian. Normally I look for an Italian place. I know that sounds boring, but I know I like Italian cuisine."
Heading to dinner in the cold of Stockholm
"Heading to dinner. It's pretty cold. It's too cold for me. I'm not used to this, especially in October, but a nice walk will help me warm up a little bit. Plain pasta is probably going to be my meal, maybe some chicken or salmon. The city is really nice though, I like it. Just a little too cold."
On the eve of the Nordic Open match, an Italian meal
"Here we are at this Italian restaurant called Italiano. It's really good, I recommend it. I ordered some fish, and you can see that my napkin is around my neck, because I get dirty with every meal that I have. I have to do this otherwise I would spend so much money on laundry."