A real clay-court battle

A very high level of clay-court tennis from both sides — at one time, this was just about the best you could find on tour!

And what if this were the tournament that marks Stefanos’ return to top form? The Greek has just put together three good matches in a row (yes, his win against Kypson is a good one in my opinion) and he’s rediscovering what made him strong: serve, forehand, running around the backhand, and a backhand that isn’t too flaky. He’s also going to regain confidence and build on his recent good matches to play better and better; we’re getting a good Stefanos this week and he’ll have to be taken seriously. It’s all well and good for now, but tomorrow a completely different level awaits him: after Kypson/Bublik/Merida he’s going to have to deal with a Ruud who is much stronger on clay and specifically in Madrid. Historically the H2H is tight, they’re pretty even. Not a lot of tight matches though, it’s usually one or the other winning easily. Before Madrid, you’d have expected a straightforward Ruud win, but given the Greek’s current level, it’s not as clear-cut as advertised...

Ruud is defending his title, just as a reminder, and so far it’s been perfect. After a swift win over Munar, he also very easily took out Fokina, but it has to be said that both of those opponents were coming back from injury and were nowhere near mentally ready to even imagine winning before the match started. I’m putting the scores a bit into perspective because Ruud played well, but on the other side of the net it fell apart far too quickly. The Norwegian could have an advantage in the match-up thanks to his forehand into Stefanos’ backhand, but he puts a lot of height on the ball and that gives the Greek a bit of time to run around and hit forehands. Both of them will be looking to dictate play with their forehand.