Clash of extremes

Hard to get more opposite in terms of play style, this R1 is pretty unusual

Raccoon JM Cerundolo, labeled as “the bad brother,” is a clay-court specialist but he’s a pain to play in general given his profile. He grinds his opponents down, pushes them back with a lot of height on the ball and can throw a lot of players off with his super atypical playing style. I saw him in qualifying in Auckland against Spizzirri, he played lights-out for a few games (he was up 4–0) before collapsing; his serve isn’t dangerous at all and on top of that he struggles on hard when you rush him. Thompson seems like the right profile to force him into short rallies, he can just slice and follow it to the net, he really shouldn’t overthink it in my opinion and should try to play ultra simple.

The Australian is back after a few minor injuries in 2025, he strung together a few matches in Nouméa before pulling out of doubles with a foot injury, and it’s impossible to know whether it was preventative/serious/nothing at all. Even injured, you can normally count on him; he’s already shown in the past that he’s capable of winning while not at 100% (Wimbledon), but last year he retired here so it’s another big headache. Great potential as a match to follow live; we’ll see if there’s anything worth taking pre-match.