Tennis IQ

Two intelligent players with, nonetheless, a far more complex equation to solve on the Swiss side...

Indeed, and for two reasons. First, he’s coming off a tough match against a counterpuncher and left a bit of energy out there. Second, because Musetti is a player who’s going to make him work. The strategy will be simple: he’ll need to be aggressive and favor short rallies whenever possible. Put Loré under pressure because the stakes are high for him. The Italian ABSOLUTELY has to win this tournament to qualify for the Turin Masters. Maybe he’ll put more pressure on himself once he reaches the semis—that would make more sense—but the fact is that so far he’s already wobbled quite a bit, and that’s partly why he finds himself in this shitty situation (if he’d wobbled less, he would’ve gotten past a Giovanni, for example, and here he could’ve settled for a semi or a final to qualify). And when there’s no other choice, suddenly the sky clears. On the other hand, I think the books are going to force us to “back” Stan or nothing...