Big Foe is fighting

Tiafoe is struggling but he’s fighting like crazy right now, it’s going to pay off in the end

Two match points saved and a bit of a smash-and-grab to take the win, once again we saw Tiafoe having big problems on return against a type of opponent that really bothers him. I keep repeating it every time and yet I still forget, but his return isn’t great and he struggles against players with a pretty simple playing style. Credit to him for getting through it anyway, it’ll do him good, but watch out for the follow-up because physically he can be worrying sometimes, and even more so in such humid conditions, he sweats so much it’s shocking. So we’ve got a Big Foe still far from his best level but fighting to get it back, there have been a few very interesting matches and with this little “stroke of luck” yesterday it might unlock something for him…

Or on the contrary, could it just be a stay of execution before he cracks? I’m not calm during his matches, he wins but it’s very often a struggle, he has almost no margin. And there’s a trap waiting for him in the quarters, Bellucci!! The Italian is coming back from nowhere as usual and is having a big tournament, we know him, he’s capable of catching fire for a week and then disappearing for 6 months afterwards. For now it’s excellent: a win over Hijikata and a win over Fokina yesterday! Yes, the Spaniard was less engaged than usual, but Bellucci got a performance rating of 8.8, which is exceptional, he played really well and deserves to be highlighted, we shouldn’t just say that Foki didn’t show up, it was a bit of both. It’s shaping up to be a big match, Tiafoe isn’t bad against left-handers, he has a positive record (19/11 against lefties with a two-handed backhand) and of course he’s the favorite in this matchup, but I don’t see him winning easily at all…