I wasn’t ready!

Here are two guys with huge potential, but they don’t seem to me to be at their best yet.

On the German side, it still seems a bit less sharp to me. What’s interesting, even if it’s surely yet another New Year’s resolution that’ll be forgotten by February, is that he wants to, and has worked to, move more into attack. More serving/volleys and aggressiveness on neutral balls, he tells us! I’ll believe it when I see it! I’m tempted to say it’s a bit silly because his usual tennis is perfect against Diallo. Indeed, Zvec grinding, covering a lot of court and being clutch is exactly what you want against a Canadian who’s not really in the zone. What’s more, Diallo at Grand Slams is nothing special. So apart from the fact that he starts his matches a bit better than Zverev, I don’t see much hope there. I backed him last year right here against Nardi in R1, and my god, what a match he gave us… Way too many inaccuracies, just like his matches in 2026. The underlying level is there. He starts his matches at full throttle, and then when there’s more resistance, he finishes his attacking phases poorly. Against Z, he’ll have no pressure, but to me, Diallo isn’t the type to suddenly transcend himself out of nowhere. For these reasons, I don’t see any value on his side in this match.