World number 66 tennis player Lorenzo Musetti is in India to take part in the TATA Open Maharashtra tennis tournament being held in Pune till February 6. He has on his CV wins against the likes of Stan Wawrinka (Australian Open, French Open and US Open champion) and Kei Nishikori. He broke into the top 100 last year and also became number 57, his career best. In The Telegraph chat, the 19-year-old tells us what tennis means for him and, yes, he is very much single.

What about tennis made you fall in love with it?

I think the sounds of the ball, and my father transferred to me the passion and the first time I touched the ball, it was love for me instantly.

Who are your idols?

Roger Federer in tennis and LeBron James in NBA.

What are your memories of tennis as a kid?

Playing against the wall of my grandmother’s house for sure.

Considering you are just 19 and already No. 66, it’s a tremendous achievement. Besides hard work, what else has contributed to the success?

Yes hard work and a mix of luck and talent. But I think the most important thing is the hard work and the sacrifices that I have made and that I still do. Travelling every week, and the thing that at a young age... investing a lot of money in travelling, there are a lot of expenses and a lot of fees that needs to be paid....

How do you handle pressure?

I worked a lot and I think it’s the experience. When you lose you get the experience. You try to manage it and it’s work, it’s sacrifice to be patient and try to stay calm and that’s it. But I think that is something that you need to learn with the experience of the matches.

Coming to India, what are your thoughts about our country?

It’s the first time here. Yes, it’s of course a different culture from Italy, but it’s always nice to discover new cities and new cultures and new places so I am happy to be here and I hope to play well and go as far as I can in this tournament.

What are you looking to do in India, besides winning the tourney? Are you planning to go around?

Unfortunately not because we are in the bubble and I had the travel and it was into the night from Mumbai to Pune… so I saw something but not so much. Yes if there wasn’t the bubble, for sure I was going out to see something.

What are the regular 19-year-old things you love?

I like listening to music. I listen to everything but I especially like rock music and sometimes also old music like from ’80s or ’90s, so good music. I love staying with my friends whenever I have the chance. I like going to the beach. I like the sea a lot because I am born in a city where there is sea and I live in Monte Carlo where from my house I can see the sea, so it’s really important to me to have this kind of contact with the sea and sometimes I just chill out there and that is also something that a 19-year-old guy would do for sure.

Do you play any other sport?

I watch some soccer from Italian League or Champions League and sometimes I watch NBA. I like basketball, sometimes I play just for fun but I am not that good. I like Lakers.

You are an incredibly good-looking guy. Your Indian fangirls would like to know if you are single?

I am completely single… I am free!

Some of Lorenzo's favourites

Roger Federer

A tennis G.O.A.T: Roger Federer
Current favourite player: Roger Federer
Favourite colour: Honestly I don’t have one, but maybe blue

Al Pacino and Robert De Niro

Keanu Reeves

Favourite actor: I don’t have one favourite but I can name three — Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Keanu Reeves

Scarlett Johansson

Favourite actress: Scarlett Johansson
An Indian dish I would like to try: Honestly, I don’t know any Indian dish, but you have a lot of curry, right? So, chicken with curry. I don’t like too much spicy because in Italy we don’t use that too much, but I will try it once during the week, once I am done playing