Back-to-school time for Loré!

I remember her return in 2025 perfectly, and she had pleasantly surprised me!

It was against Nakashima right here. He’d taken the American to a tie-break, and I remember thinking, “Right, I know this story by heart: he’s going to take his chances but make one or two mistakes too many with his risky aggressive game against the consistent Nakashima.” And in the end, the guy brought out his balls and kept a controlled aggressiveness to win in 2 sets. In Hong Kong, I like the conditions for him. It could be a bit faster, but it’s already good. Nice weather, 20°C, no wind. Really cool for his game. He also finished the 2025 season pretty well. Holidays in the Maldives, off-season in Spain with training sessions with Marozsan at the Rafa Academy. I like it when he’s recharged because he’s a player who plays with his heart. On the other side, the promising youngster Rei Sakamoto. He’s also finishing in good form since he won the Yokohama Challenger before ending his season. He had ups and downs this year, but that’s totally normal when you’re 19 and discovering the tour. He’s young, prepared, powerful, even fiery, and can perform well in this part of the world. The surface and conditions are also perfect for him. For the record, he’s now got a bit of a reputation as a warrior on court, with a few celebrations that are reminiscent of the samurai spirit. He was also the junior champion at the 2024 Australian Open. That tells you how dangerous he can be. He’s also a great prospect because he’s got the build and the modern tennis that goes with it. I do wonder, though, how he’ll react to Sonego’s hyper-aggressive style. That’s where my lack of knowledge about the Japanese player holds back my analysis, because I can’t tell you how good or bad the match-up is for the players involved. I know “Loré” by heart, but against a fiery youngster coming in with a knife between his teeth, in his own region of the world, the Italian is going to feel quite a bit of pressure. Logically, their serves should hold up pretty well given their profiles. Maybe that’s something to look at, because the Italian’s ML seems a bit low to me considering the danger standing in front of him for his very first match of the season!