The new kid Vallejo

This young player from Paraguay is improving at an impressive pace!

I discovered Vallejo in 2024 during the Paraguay/Monaco Davis Cup tie. Back then he was way down in the rankings and even younger, and yet he really impressed me by pissing off Vacherot, who obviously wasn’t as good back then. No wild cards, no special treatment, Vallejo had to make it on his own and he ground like crazy on the Challenger tour last year. He’s kept it going this season and now he’s got the ranking to try his luck in these tournaments. He’s 16/2 this season; okay, there aren’t any massive wins in there, but we’re talking about a young guy on fire who’s already really close to breaking into the top 100, which just shows how well he’s working. He’s got a big pop on the forehand, solid on both sides, and the serve is not bad at all, a proper clay-courter. He just took out Monteiro and Rocha in qualifying, not exactly nobodies! In short, he’s a player you really don’t want to face right now.

And it’s Passaro who’s going to have to deal with him. The Italian is a strange one: last week as a lucky loser he impressed me again in R1 and then in R2 before he “got injured”. Looked like a problem with his right wrist, it was really pissing him off, and when you know his injury history that’s something you have to factor in. It’s a shame, because in these altitude conditions where his huge forehand really explodes off the court he can do serious damage, but yeah… I also haven’t forgotten that mentally this guy can completely lose it and spray balls all over the place without being able to understand that at altitude the ball flies! As very often with Passaro, you either want to back him as a surprise underdog or just give it a miss altogether, so let’s go check the odds!