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Matteo Berrettini has hailed Rafael Nadal as the greatest fighter in tennis ahead of his semi-final meeting with the Spanish star. Berrettini became just the fourth Italian man to reach a

Grand Slam semi-final in the Open Era when he beat Gael Monfils in five sets. And his reward is a semi-final meeting with Nadal on Friday. Berrettini and Nadal have never played each other

before but the 23-year-old from Rome is full of admiration for the 18-time Grand Slam champion. He said: "I mean, I think he's the greatest fighter ever in this sport. It's

unbelievable he's doing. "I admire him, like, the way he's on the court, you know. "Like his attitude is something that it's -- I think it's close to the

perfection. "He's always, like, 5-0, 40-Love down, he's always there. It's something that's not that easy to do. So bravo." Berrettini then opened up on his

earliest memories of Nadal, watching him in the 2005 Rome final against Guillermo Coria. He said: "I remember the finals in Rome against Coria, and I don't know how to say, they

were, like, giving the match on the TV but not the -- for free, you know. "It was, like, a channel that was about cartoons. "I was young. These guys, I mean, six hours. Come on. I

want to catch my cartoons. "I remember that, yeah. It was unbelievable. Was unbelievable. "Actually, I think also a lot of -- I was going to school, and a lot of my classmates,

they actually, I think, from there they started to follow tennis more, to watch tennis more, because the match was free and they watched the match. "They were, Oh, you're playing

this sport then? I was, like, Yeah. I'm dreaming about playing these kind of matches. And now I'm here. So I'm happy."