Matteo Berrettini will face Rafael Nadal in the US Open semi-final on Friday night.
And it’s a match the Italian dreams about, having never played the Spanish star.
Berrettini has made it through to his first Grand Slam semi-final having seen off Gael Monfils in a five-set thriller.
Nadal, meanwhile, dispatched Diego Schwartzman in straight sets in New York.
And with the two set to meet at Flushing Meadows on Friday, Berrettini is already looking forward to pitting his wits against one of the very best.
“I saw, like, a hundred of his matches,” Berrettini said.
“Who in this tour doesn’t know Rafa? It’s going to be tough, for sure, against him.
“I remember the finals in Rome against Coria, and I don’t know how to say, they were showing the match on the TV but for free, you know.
“It was, like, on a channel that was [normally] about cartoons. I was young. These guys, I mean, six hours. Come on. I want to catch my cartoons.
“But I’m dreaming about playing these kind of matches. And now I’m here. So I’m happy.”
Nadal is also looking forward to the encounter though knows it won’t be easy against the world No 25.
Nadal said: “He’s in semi-finals. Berrettini is having a great year. He’s in semi-finals winning a lot of good matches, so what you can expect in a semi-finals of a Grand Slam match.
“You can’t expect an easy opponent. You can’t expect an easy match.
“I really believe that if you want to win tournaments, you need to go through tough opponents like I had against Marin [Cilic], today against Diego.
“He was playing great the whole event and now another player that is playing great.
“He’s serving huge, big forehands, moving well, and big confidence because he’s having a great year.
“So let’s see. I need to play my best, and I think today I make a step forward, even if I lost my serve, as you said, couple of times.”
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