With kid gloves!

The two injured players meet in a best-of-three match. If I were a doctor, I’d find you a value!

Indeed, the latest news is not good for either player. Nava took an MTO at the end of the 2nd set against Baez on January 12, and he was clearly bothered for the rest of the match with his ankle, even if the 3rd set was a bit better. As for Kyrian, he withdrew from his match on January 9 in Canberra because of pain in his right shoulder. What should we make of that? It’s hard to know how much their injuries will affect them. That said, this is the Australian Open. Players are cautious because this tournament is so important. That seems to be the case for Kyrian, who outright stopped his match, whereas Emilio kept playing, surely because he was able to go on, and surely also because he was in the heat of the moment and he’s the kind of guy who never gives up. So there’s a lot of guessing going on here. In terms of level, we saw at Roland how much Kyrian can transcend himself and play some big-time tennis in this format. His end of season, and the start of 2026, have been very solid. He clearly went up a level thanks to being able to play without too many injuries last year. That reassures me a bit more that he knows his body well and that he stopped his match with the greatest caution possible. On Nava’s side, he also made a big step forward, with an average level higher than Kyrian’s. His game is better suited to outdoor hard conditions, but for me there’s the risk that he might have pushed his injury a bit too far before his R1 here...