Leading the Team

With Djere/Lajovic/Djokovic absent from Team Serbia, Kecmanovic was in charge of their 3-0 win against Turkey in the Davis Cup...

Miomir has not had his best season, despite a promising start, which included a semifinal in Adelaide and a title in Delray Beach. He tends to play a lot of long matches where he loses by small margins, and I wouldn't call it bad luck... more like him just lacking confidence and the ability to execute in tight moments. I like the fact that he's had almost a month off since the US Open loss to Fonseca (besides playing one 6-2, 6-2 match in Davis Cup at home in Serbia). Since it was not going so well, I see this break for him as something positive, which allows him to reset a bit. Mensik has had a breakthrough year and is coming from the Laver Cup, where he played two singles and one doubles match. Like everyone else traveling from San Francisco, we have to be very aware of potential jet lag; it's quite a short turnaround!

As for the matchup, I find it quite decent for both. Mensik likes facing attacking players, but Kecmanovic is quite balanced when it comes to attacking and defending... however, he's no counter-puncher either, so he can't really bother Mensik. And for Kecmanovic, he gets to face a player who serves big but doesn't really attack that much. Mensik tends to play a bit more "solid" (Big Server / Solid Baseliner), which is better for him than facing aggressive players. I am backing Kecmanovic here, as he is currently not highly rated by the market, while Mensik is the opposite (I find him somewhat overrated). A small bonus for Mensik is that he did play on slow hardcourts already in Laver Cup, so at least he'll be a bit adjusted for the conditions in that way. Mensik is a young player and the Laver Cup is a big event, add on the jetlag and I can see him having trouble here in the first round against a hopefully "hungry" Kecmanovic...