Little scandal!

Opelka withdrew in the second round of qualies and now he’s a LL—it’s surreal.

How can a player who withdraws get picked as a lucky loser? It’s shameful for the other players who lost in qualies but busted their guts. Anyway, it’s not normal, but I’m not even sure Opelka will play; he often calls out issues in tennis, and honoring that LL status isn’t really his thing, plus he’s actually injured. I noticed in his match against Bellucci that something was off—I told Elie, insisting his body language was even worse than usual. Apparently it’s a shoulder problem, serious enough to withdraw, and let’s not forget he put in a decent run in Basel too; physically he’s often right on the edge. That’s all we know about Opelka, but even so he’s a pain to face because his serve indoors is monstrous and he can hold on repeat. Moutet will need to be inspired on return, and after that he’s got the quality to defend and make life miserable for Opelka—his slices, drop shots, and low balls are excellent against this profile. Be wary of the start of the match: playing in Paris can be tricky early on, but once he’s into it Coco seems good enough to go beat Opelka.