The return of Big Gio!

The Frenchman hasn't played since Miami because of a right wrist injury, and he's making his comeback at this Masters 1000. What can we expect from him?

After a very disappointing start to the season from Mpetshi Perricard, he injured his right wrist in Miami and hasn’t played since. It’s the kind of injury that can really hurt in the short term, but also in the long term, and you have to be very careful with it. I’d even say that, given his profile, he’s even more affected by this type of injury because his serve is obviously impacted. We also shouldn’t forget that he has a one-handed backhand. His left hand, his left wrist really aren’t useful and can’t compensate for this issue.

I’m not convinced either that he’ll be very dangerous coming back on slow clay with a low bounce, which doesn’t suit his strengths at all.

On Fearnley’s side, I loved his last qualifying match against Kovacevic, apart from the first set where he was still a bit messy and maybe tense. But once he got into the match, he really played well. And for once, I found him smart on serve, with a slightly lower ball speed but many more first serves in, and obviously fewer double faults, since he had fewer second serves to hit. He has very little experience on clay in his career, but every time I see him play on it, it’s really decent. He’s fairly mobile, hard to hit through and, on top of that, he has the natural power to do damage, unlike other players who struggle to get the ball moving on this type of surface.