Lorenzo Musetti will take on Novak Djokovic in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open without a coach or physio in his corner. The 23-year-old will make his debut in the last eight of the Grand Slam against none other than the tournament’s most prolific player of all time, who is chasing a record-extending 11th Melbourne major. Musetti dominated Taylor Fritz in straight sets on Monday to reach the quarters of this competition for the first time.

It was his best performance of the tournament thus far, having shown more signs of struggle in earlier wins over Tomas Machac and Raphael Collignon. However, his tournament has been complicated by the departures of coach Simone Tartarini and physio Damiano Fiorucci. It emerged that both members of his team have flown home to Italy, leaving Musetti with a heavily reduced team for his remaining matches. It’s reported Tartarini had to leave following a personal bereavement, while Fiorucci was hospitalised shortly after arriving in Australia. That being said, Musetti isn’t allowing the setbacks to slow him down and is instead eager to use it as fuel to actually improve.

“It’s not easy waking up every day [to watch his matches from Italy]. We have been a little bit unlucky off the court,” said the Italian during his on-court interview. “As you mentioned, for personal reasons, they had to come back.

“But they are here [in my heart], and it’s tough also to speak. Because when real life knocks the door with something really surprising, you always understand life better.

“And I think I feel more mature on the court and probably am playing better also, for that and for them. So I want to continue, and I want to keep pushing myself more and more. Now I have a huge challenge ahead, so I feel ready to do it.”

Musetti has faced 38-year-old Djokovic on 10 occasions to date, with the Serb triumphing in nine of those. The former’s sole win in their head-to-head came at the 2023 Monte Carlo Masters.

In the absence of his other coaches, Musetti was confident when describing the “very good harmony” he shares with his last remaining coach, Jose Perlas. And the two-man tandem hasn’t missed a step just yet.

Musetti also touched on the recent birth of his second son with partner Veronica. He joked he “hadn’t got much sleep” during the off-season as a result, not that it’s showing in his overall play Down Under.