To trust or not to trust VDZ, that is the question...

One of the hardest players on the tour to figure out, VDZ's level varies enormously, but when everything clicks it's monstrous.

VDZ’s four-set win over Nakashima in the first round, not many people saw that one coming! The Dutchman played some great tennis and was very clinical too, the perfect approach. His game is incredibly good when he’s in a good place mentally, he’s got everything. Quality serve, forehand, backhand, court coverage, a real threat. That’s what’s waiting for Shang in the second round, a big battle in store after already having a tough fight against Bautista Agut. The young Chinese player is starting to manage his energy better and rein himself in too, he needs to tame that urge to absolutely crush every single shot. He’s already very good but still lacks match management and a stable physique (on top of having a mentality that can let him down). Small MTO in R1 by the way, he asked for pills but it’s impossible to know exactly for what, I just know he’s got some tape around the abs but he didn’t seem bothered. He’s still prone to cramping and in a format this long you constantly have to keep an eye on him.

Let’s talk match‑up a bit: they’ve played once in Hong Kong and we got an incredible match, won by Shang 6/7 7/6 7/6, so it’s no surprise that VDZ’s game annoys him. VDZ is excellent on the backhand side and defends like steel, he can absorb Shang’s power and redirect it properly. I think that at their best level over a BO5 match, it’s often VDZ who can edge it in the end, but that requires him to be locked in mentally, which is never 100% guaranteed with him. I’d say Shang offers a bit more reliability in terms of the average level he can produce from one match to the next, and everything depends on which version of VDZ we get tomorrow.