Down to earth

The Argentinian this year has 26 matches on earth for 19 victories. Starting from 125th place in the world at the start of the year, he was propelled to 51st after another good week in Bucharest. Can he continue?

The last time he played 2 close tournaments, Mariano Navone lost in the first round even though he was the favorite. The Argentinian is only 23 years old, but this is all new to him. He will obviously play Madrid for the first time in his career. He played 4 matches in 3 days ending Sunday around 6 p.m. Treatment, recovery, trip to Madrid the next day, cleaning up... And here we are. We have to continue. He's a guy who can do everything. Play 4 meters from your line or go up on the fly. But overall, I would say he still has a defensive profile. So I think that Madrid's conditions will please him a little less than his opponent of the day. Alexei Popyrin is the logical favorite of this match for me, which was not the case at the start of the market (he was listed around 2.05 at the end of the odds). He caused a sensation in Madrid in 2021 by beating Struff and Sinner. There, he has just had a good, crappy match in Barcelona even though he had played well in Monte-Carlo. A small mistake along the way, shall we say. That said, he will have to be careful with his finishing points because Navone is a good dog at breaking...