The artist

Sasha Bublik moves forward, even despite the wind. Can an Argentinian backed by 300 drunk guys in blue and white jerseys make him face his demons again?

First of all, if you like smart people, I recommend his press conference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfTasEbmvXk You might then understand a bit better, if it still wasn’t very clear, how mature the guy is. “I came here to win matches, by doing everything in my power. I don’t see the point of going off the rails in set 3 and then wandering around for 5 sets.” He was actually down a break in the 3rd set against Fucso. It was windy on top of that, and Fucso fought hard. This straight‑sets win, when you really know Bublik, is truly symbolic of a new level of maturity. Once you’ve said that, you look at Etche and you wonder if he’s got what it takes to beat the now top‑10 Kazakh. My opinion: even though the Argentine raised his level against Fery and played with good intensity, for me he’s got a tennis ceiling. As far as I remember, he beats top‑10 players very, very rarely. And his game against Bublik doesn’t inspire any confidence at all. Against a Fery, a good rhythm baseliner, or a Kecmanovic, sure. Against a creative Bublik, no. The Kazakh’s game is very likely to mess his up, with all those variations. Etche is a clay‑courter disguised as a hard‑court player thanks to his serve. But he’s gonna have to do a lot more than hitting loopy cross‑courts for 8 hours there, my guy 🤣