Quite a bit of pressure on Felix!

The Canadian is in the race for the ATP Finals and he doesn't have much room for error—it's an exciting part of the season for these players.

After a crazy US Open, FAA got married and didn’t really prepare for the Asian swing—he kind of showed up like a tourist in Shanghai (I’m slightly exaggerating)—and he wasn’t too lucky to run into this version of Rinderknech; otherwise I think he could’ve gone far. Nothing major to regret about the way he played, and I think he put it into perspective. Now he’s back indoors, a surface that’s really close to his heart; he loves these conditions and his win-loss ratio there is almost his best across all surfaces. Enough to hope for a strong end to the season—he just needs to handle the pressure and settle into his tournament. And he’s going to have to deal with the devilish Dzumhur. He got through a deciding tiebreak today against Cina, but with a bit more ruthlessness he would’ve won that match pretty easily. He was playing well on that small court, which is slower than center court; that’s my big worry for him tomorrow since we’re moving back to center and it’s much faster. Basically the match depends a lot on Felix: if the Canadian serves well and plays like he has in recent weeks, then yes, he’s comfortably better in these conditions. But at the same time it’s a first round with a bit of pressure on his side and a Dzumhur who’s a real pain in the ass to play when he’s locked in—this match could quickly turn into a trap.