Did Dimitrov mark his comeback by turning on the A/C?

We’d have preferred Dimitrov to get back into it against someone other than Mpetshi—the Frenchman is in better form, and there’s serious danger ahead for Dimitrov.

It’s the big return of Dimitrov after his pectoral injury at Wimbledon; the Bulgarian hasn’t played an official match since, and we’ll have to see how he reacts in his comeback. We’ll keep an eye on his serve and any sign of discomfort, but in my opinion, if he’s coming back now when the season is almost over, it just means he’s fit, plain and simple. So he’ll mainly be looking to get some rhythm first, and I think he’s coming in wanting to test himself in a real match, but even so he’s a threat to our Frenchman. With his slice quality, clean baseline game, and serve, he can basically just keep holding against Mpetshi, logically. The Frenchman isn’t built to compete with him in long rallies, and even less so given how his last matches looked, where he disappointed me! Whether it was against Lehecka or Fonseca, I found him even worse from the baseline than usual and uncomfortable at the net; in that case he was relying solely on his serve—there was nothing else. So yeah, he’s almost impossible to break indoors, but on the other hand he’s nearly nonexistent on return. I think we’re looking at another match scenario that’s close to a coin flip, with a slight edge to Mpetshi in terms of game management and especially rhythm. But yeah, it feels like a tough match for Gio, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he drops at least a set if he shows up at the same level as in his last two matches—Dimitrov can do something.