Really back?

A great United Cup for Stefanos, set to last?

3 matches, 3 wins against Mochizuki, Harris and Fritz, and above all an impression we hadn’t seen for months. The Greek finally seems to be rid of his back problems and that makes all the difference in his attacking game. More mobile, more airborne, it’s really been a long time since we’d seen him like this and we’re really looking forward to what comes next. Nevertheless, I’m slightly cautious because it was only the United Cup, he faced two very beatable opponents and a Fritz who was far from his best level.

Vukic was outclassed by a very good Tiafoe in Brisbane and he reacted well by coming through qualifying cleanly here, two nice wins against Nardi and Fearnley, two players who haven’t shown great form at the start of this season. I’m not a big fan of Vukic but he’s a fighter and at home he can be dangerous, as his run at the AO last year showed. In terms of match-up, he’s a good server, and knowing the difficulties the Greek has on return, that could be the key to the match: the Australian’s ability to get free points on serve. As for the rest, the good version of Tsitsipas is obviously superior.