A Tough Path Ahead

Safe to say that Carlos was not blessed with a good draw...

Alcaraz enters the USO on a good note, with a title in Cincinnati despite the slight asterisk due to what happened in the final (and the semifinal against Zverev). Regardless, he did his part, and now he can set his sights on having a good tournament here, considering his early exit last year against Botic. I would say that Alcaraz's level was good in Cincinnati, but it is not perfect. His opening round against Dzumhur was slightly worrying, as was his match against Rublev. Faster outdoor hardcourts will always challenge him a bit more due to his relatively weak serve and ability to be rushed. Opelka is not happy at the moment, he is coming from a bad loss from a break up in the decider (weird match with stops and illnesses). As usual, Opelka also has "beef" with something or someone; the world is always against him! This time it's about him getting fined heavily (90k USD), so he is definitely not in a good mood - maybe he'll release that anger with a few extra km/h on his serves ;)

While Opelka's record in USO is not good, this is still a very annoying first round for Alcaraz. It's true that he is coming from a good run in Cincinnati, but it just sucks to face such a player with such firepower in your first round, compared to facing a weaker player where he has a lot more control. Opelka is also someone who has played against the best players in the world and doesn't really get "nervous" in the same way as some other players might. He will just blast serves and try to hit big shots on return; that's it...