Time for revenge?

The two men are meeting again here in Madrid, where they had already faced each other last year in a tense match. Dzumhur got on the Italian’s nerves to the highest degree, hence the very strained handshake. So the match could potentially be highly charged. The Italian Bellucci seems to struggle with Dzumhur’s game, thinking he cannot compete from the baseline against the statistical tennis played by the Bosnian, which exposes him to the risk of racking up unforced errors. In their match here in Madrid last year, he had more than 40 unforced errors, and in Cincinnati, he went over 70 unforced errors. He absolutely has to change his strategy. The conditions could allow him to be more impactful, but they also favor the Bosnian, who can thus make up for a lack of power.

I find it strange that the Bosnian is the underdog. Despite his recent poor performances, his match in Monte Carlo against the Hungarian was atypical since he was called to play at the last minute. As for the match against Sashko in Munich, I wasn’t able to watch it, but I’m not alarmed. I think the Bosnian can play decent tennis and, even when playing below his best, as was the case in Madrid and Cincinnati, he still beats the Italian. So it’s odd to consider him the underdog. Even if the Italian is motivated to find a solution and get his revenge, if he realizes that the match-up is still tricky, I can picture him gradually fading and resigning himself. That’s my opinion.