The Yearly Wildcard

Another year, another Leo Borg WC in Stockholm...

It might seem unfair at first to keep giving Borg wildcards since he is not really able to achieve much with them. But then again, there are not exactly a lot of other great choices... Swedish tennis is not at its best! And we know that Borg can at least raise his level against good opposition; we have seen it a few times now. I won't go into detail about his recent form on the futures level, since it's not really that relevant. Funnily enough, his last match on the main tour level was in Geneva... against Ofner. He lost that match 6-3, 7-5 as a double-digit underdog. While he has lost all four matches in the first round here in Stockholm so far, the scorelines have at least been somewhat respectable... usually something like a 7-6, 6-3 or 6-4, 6-3. Ofner himself is on an eight-match losing streak, the last one coming against Nardi in Shanghai. He is still playing decent tennis, with many of the losses being rather tight. However, it's clear that he is not at his best; he tends to have quite a few dips throughout the match, and it has been costly. There is honestly not a lot to say about the matchup. Ofner is simply a better player in every aspect. At least for Borg, he gets to face someone who is not at their best and also not the sharpest returner, so he has a chance to hold his own serve games decently. With this in mind, along with the fact that the Vienna Open is the next tournament, there is most likely only one way for me to look here, unless the odds are too terrible...