The golden opportunity

Jacquet/Added for a place in the quarterfinals of an ATP 250, a dream chance for both, and I’m afraid the tension will take over

People often talk about the looseness that comes with LL status: you’ve already lost and then you get another chance, and usually it’s against a stronger guy, so yeah, you tend to play freer afterwards. There are plenty of examples this season, but Added is a slightly different kind of LL: he takes FAA’s spot and a first-round BYE, so here he is in the round of 16 against another qualifier. I don’t think he’ll be as relaxed as expected; you have to get back into the tournament and seize the opportunity. I don’t know him super well, but he’s a fairly complete profile; he doesn’t do anything exceptional, but he’s a baseline grinder who extends points and seems to make up for a lack of power with a strong mindset. Apparently the backhand side is weaker, a weakness Jacquet could exploit. Jacquet just beat Van Assche with a good game plan. He struggled mentally after Roland; he saw a golden opportunity and took a hit afterward. He’s already talking about the points and the money at this Metz tournament; I don’t really like focusing only on that before a big opportunity. If he feels the match slipping away, his old demons could resurface. I chalk up his straight-set loss to Added to so-so form; it was mainly after this tournament and during the Asian swing that he found his level again. He’s a new player, and in my opinion he’s even better than Added right now! On the other hand, there were two long matches in qualifying, another one today, and tomorrow, given Added’s profile, it could drag on—especially since there’s going to be plenty of tension throughout. I think that’s going to have a big impact on Jacquet’s level.