So anecdotal..

Garin recently lost his father, mentally it’s impossible to know how he’ll be and I don’t really feel like trying to lay him because of that personally, there are things far more important than betting.

Garin still insisted on taking part in the Davis Cup, or at least being part of the team; he traveled with them and their captain said that if he’d had to play the 5th match, he would’ve done it without hesitation. He was very professional and it’s good for him to play to keep his mind busy during such a complicated time for him. Two possibilities: either he’s completely driven and will give everything on court to pay a beautiful tribute to his father, or his head just isn’t in it at all and he’ll drift through the match. I wholeheartedly hope he wins. His level of play has been good since the start of the season as well, he’s already won Rio in the past, so overall it’s quite promising. I even like his opponent: Tirante hasn’t yet made it past a qualifying round in this tournament and this will be his first match of the year on clay. He filled in during the Davis Cup in Korea on hard court and has had a week of rest, so there’s no need to worry about a tournament rush, he must have trained well. He’s a very aggressive profile for a clay-courter, he serves well and loves to dictate play with his forehand, but I’m not sure the conditions in Rio will be ideal for him.

First meeting between the two; I give an advantage to Garin in terms of level and match-up, but once again that’s not where this is going to be decided...