Danke schön Altmaier

After over 9 hours of tennis in 3 days, he gets rewarded by having to face The Demon...

Altmaier came into the US Open with no form whatsoever, but quickly showed us what a great GS player he is! Both his matches were absolutely epic, five-set thrillers against Medjedovic and Tsitsipas. We got a lot of drama, not only from the tennis itself but also from the spicy characters involved. It's been great! Altmaier has demonstrated incredible resilience and strength in high-pressure moments during his matches, and I would say that this is the primary reason for both victories. ADM's journey has been the complete opposite. Facing an unfit O'Connell in the first round before Mochizuki in the second, not exactly the hardest test! As expected, he won both matches in comfortable straight sets, having spent significantly less time on court.

We know that Altmaier is really fit, but he could not have gotten a worse opponent here after his double marathon matches. I have a very hard time seeing him threatening ADM here, since the Australian will just be a wall from the baseline, and Altmaier does not have the biggest weapons normally, and when you add in potential fatigue setting in, that lessens the chance of hitting through him even more. Altmaier's second serve is vulnerable, but it wasn't really punished in the previous matches; that won't be the case here. It's possible that Altmaier has a decent start due to confidence and momentum, but given the circumstances, I have a hard time not seeing him fade away a bit later on...