The Arnaldi surprise?
At this level, I don't know if we can legitimately call it a surprise...
Indeed, Tiafoe's season leaves something to be desired. He was even called a tennis clown. With 13 wins for 17 losses this season, there was only Houston to save him. Hello Houston! The grass can give it color again. Athletic, fairly low center of gravity, good touch, short preparations... No no, he is far from being one-armed. On the other hand, when you don't have confidence in yourself on grass it's not forgiving. Matches are often decided on important points, and this is even more true against a guy like Arnaldi. The Italian is very light and seems to fly on the grass. On the other hand, he didn't really reassure me at Queen's. It did the same thing to me throughout his season on earth where I found him sluggish, too "reactive", then he does a really good Roland and everyone is rave about him. Would he become a Grand Slam player? Is he going to give us an “Arnaldi” once again with a match in which he is trailing and manages to turn the situation around to beat Tiafoe to the post? Also, and I saved this for last, we don't forget that Tiafoe had a blast at Queen's. Result: twisted knee and 10 days of “rehab” to prepare Wim. He still beat Zhang in exhibition today (Sunday June 30), 7/6 6/4. He says he is getting better and better but hey, in a real high-intensity match, there will surely be apprehension.


