Royer, that LLLL

And yes, you're not dreaming! The Frenchman is a lucky-lucky-lucky-loser! In fact, he's a lucky loser for the third time in a row. Never seen before.. Will he make the most of it again?!

At the same time, this guy gives so much on and off the court that I kind of want to say this twist of fate is thoroughly deserved. He was the only Frenchman in the second round of qualies, and he fought bravely against Korda even though he’d eaten something not exactly wholesome the night before, which had him sleeping very little and vomiting a lot. So I think he realizes just how insanely lucky he is to be able to come back into this tournament that’s so dear to him—plus with an extra rest day. Across the net, we’ve got a Foki who’s lost yet another final this year (he’s at 4) and still has zero trophies in his career. Usually that gives him a little knock to the head. But here, I don’t know, because the storyline was pretty one-sided. How has he reacted after his lost finals this year? After Delray Beach, he made another final in Acapulco. After Acapulco, he went out in the first round at Indian Wells against McDo. After Washington, terrible loss, he retired in the third round against Rublev. And here we are after Basel. Two options for me: either he keeps riding the wave (even if he’s spent a bit physically and mentally—it’s probably his last tournament of the season), or he eases off like he’s been doing for 1–2 months. Up against a super-resilient Royer and a crowd fully behind the Frenchman, there’s a chance he loses his cool a bit. Now, you know as well as I do, the Spaniard is just so good... In defense/counter mode to break down attackers, he’s perfect, and that’s what allowed him to beat Sonego, Brooksby, Ruud, and Humbert in Basel. And that’s also Royer’s profile. And I don’t like it—really don’t like it—when someone sends back the Frenchman’s assaults too well, because he starts forcing and spraying errors. So the matchup isn’t great in my view, and the Spaniard’s form is an unknown.