Indestructible

Our divine bald man continues to amaze us at 37 years old and already with 17 US Opens under his belt. What are his chances against a pure product of the Czech school?

Pretty good, I think. The first thing that obviously comes to mind in this confrontation is the matchup. I deliberately talk about the Czech school in my intro, because it's the school of rigor. Technically, nothing moves, physically, they're tough. But I have to be chauvinistic: the French are more subtle, more cunning, more creative. When you see the diversity of our players, frankly, I'm proud of my country. Here I'm thinking of Manna's low trajectories, even more so on the backhand. It's something that really bothers his opponents in general, and Lehecka will be no exception. He readily confided that he hated Bautista Agut's slightly floating balls, flat and low compared to the net in the Davis Cup, because they put him in a very uncomfortable position to attack. His father and coach, Ben Shelton, also told him to play his forehand a little more because on the backhand side, it's even worse with Manna. Also, I don't really like it when Jiri plays a guy who forces him to come and take stock. A Norrie, a Musetti, a Bellucci, a Muller... Manna won't just do that, he's even stronger when he takes charge, but against Jiri's power, he'll have a little less choice. So, in my opinion, he'll do the same as he did against Sinner, where he stuck to his baseline and redirected the trajectories with his short preparations and his string stretched to 12 kilos. Because to counter a powerful aggressor, there aren't 36 solutions: either you play the defensive card like Daniil or Musetti, or you attack first by taking away time, which is definitely more Manna's profile. For me, if he executes his strategy well, he'll cause a lot of problems for Jiri, who generally, in these situations, holds out for a while by keeping his back and then explodes. He tries to go up to the net more, to hit harder... But nothing works, he gets frustrated and that's it. I have matches like that in mind this season: Draper in Doha or Dubai, Norrie in IW I think, Musetti in Monte Carlo, Muller I don't know where anymore... On top of that, I think Jiri is not a Grand Slam player. His level is very often below what he can produce in 2 sets format. It seems like he puts some kind of pressure on himself. Whereas Manna, he is not a Grand Slam beast, but he has a lot more experience and at the US Open, believe me, you don't want to play him! And needless to say, he is in great form at the moment, and after Carlito and Bublik, he is perhaps the one who has caused the most problems for Jannik Sinner since his return. Are there any positive things from the Czech's side? 😅 I shouldn't be too biased by a matchup that excites me, but of course Jiri has big weapons. We saw Shelton sweep Manna not long ago, because his power prevented any attempts from the divine bald man. But Shelton serves better, he's left-handed, and above all, he's more solid from the back. Okay, that's all cool Elie, but what do we do now?