Padawan

Young Yi Zhou continues his apprenticeship with the big boys! After three quality tournaments on Asian soil, he's back facing, I think, a profile that's quite troublesome for him.

And yes, that's my main fear for him here: the matchup. Sometimes you can put your heart into it, tennis reasons prevail. De Jong is both very mobile and aggressive. He has good service quality for his size. He is therefore not just the good blocker / defender, a profile that could already undermine Zhou's game in my humble opinion. Because Yi Zhou is beautiful, he hits hard, but he still lacks the consistency that would place him in the top 100. There is simply still a level of difference between the two players. Can motivation and current form change the situation? It's true that we saw a De Jong completely stuck against Mannarino's game, while Yi Zhou is discovering this main circuit with the excitement that results. Two slightly opposing trends therefore. It's a little difficult for me to guess at what level Jesper De Jong will arrive with, especially, but during his last match against Mannarino, his level was yo-yoing. I think that if there is something to do here, if the odds allow it, it is to try a little "back" on the almost local Yi Zhou...