The Knocked-Out Ones

Between the depressed Dutchman who chose not to play the tournaments after Munich on the pretext that he isn’t physically ready enough, and the Frenchman who, since his Marrakech–Monte Carlo run, has been just a shadow of himself on clay, it’s hard to call. It’s a kind of guessing game to figure out which of the two has managed to bounce back better. And when you’re putting money on the line, you don’t like playing guessing games. On the clay in Rome, with a mild climate and stormy or even rainy weather, which will result in heavy clay and possibly even stoppages, the mental aspect can become even more important than it already is on such a surface. Of course, I trust the Frenchman more in this area. Alexandre Muller chose to keep playing tournaments to get his form back, whereas the Dutchman completely stopped. That may ultimately have done him more good, but in any case, the Frenchman’s reaction is on a larger scale. And then we all know, we prefer the Dutchman when he’s in a counterpunching situation, against more one-dimensional profiles. But the Frenchman is himself a counterpuncher, even a defender. He has less power than the Dutchman and will therefore more likely find himself in the position he likes. And when the Dutchman has to take the initiative while he’s not confident on slow clay, that’s really not something I like.