LORENZO MUSETTI has certainly made his mark on this Wimbledon.
And he has also done the same on his body with three touching tattoos.
The flamboyant Italian star, 22, was drawn to face Novak Djokovic in his maiden Grand Slam semi-final after beating Taylor Fritz in five sets.
And he is inspired through every tennis match by his trio of inkings.
The most obvious tatt is the one on the back of his left upper arm.
It is a heartbeat with a tennis racquet in the middle.
Musetti also has a ship’s anchor on his wrist as well as the phrase ‘Il meglio deve ancora venire’ – which translates as ‘the best is yet to come’ – on the right side of his torso.
But it is the heartbeat design that gets the most attention, often spotted by tennis viewers during matches because of its pride of place on his arm.
And it has a heartwarming reason linking back to his family.
Musetti – part of an exciting era of Italian tennis alongside Jannik Sinner and Jasmine Paolini – explained: “I have three tattoos on my body. Probably the most known is the one with my heartbeat, heart rate, and tennis racquet in the middle.
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“I have this for my family because they’re always supporting me, like an anchor does.
“I have one phrase with my coach. It says in Italian: Il meglio deve ancora venire. The best is yet to come. Today I can say it is coming.
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“The heartbeat is really personal because my uncle is a cardiologist.
“I took one set of the frequency and put the racquet in the middle.
“It [tennis] is in everything so I think it’s worth it.”
Despite what his tattoo might suggest, though, there is more to Musetti’s life than just tennis.
The son of a marble producer and a secretary, the flashy Tuscany talent has done some modelling – even appearing on the front cover of Esquire magazine.
And now he has also started a family, too.
Musetti and his partner Veronica Confalonieri welcomed their baby son Ludovico in March 2024, two weeks after the tennis ace turned 22.
Speaking after beating Fritz to secure his final-four Major debut at Wimbledon, the 2023 Davis Cup winner said: “It’s tough for me to get emotional, but today I think I will.
“I’ve been dreaming about this moment since I was a kid. I always had a really beautiful family that always supported me in chasing my dream.
“I think it’s been really challenging with a lot of new experiences, with the pregnancy of my girlfriend and becoming a father, a lot of things happened and changed.”
PRIZE MONEY for the 2024 Wimbledon Championships is a new record – and puts the grass-court Slam at the top of the tree.
The All England Club will dish out £50million across all the events – an increase of £5.3m and 11.9 per cent on last year, where singles champions Carlos Alcaraz and Marketa Vondrousova picked up £2.35m each.
However, the king and queen of grass this July will collect an extra £350,000 – taking the winner’s earnings to £2.7m.
Here is the breakdown for the 2024 Wimbledon singles prize money:
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