Gladiator remake!

He’s a Croatian on fire who will face his idol again almost two and a half years after their epic meeting at the Australian Open. Since then, the Croatian has had his ups and downs, but he seems to have reached a new level in recent weeks, or even months. It’s certainly not the level people would have predicted for him when he played Djokovic in 2024, but the path is often full of unexpected obstacles. Today, we have a Croatian on fire who has the game to bother Djokovic. Why? Because he knows how to play a kind of tennis where he stands far behind his baseline, doesn’t make any unforced errors, plays with intensity, and occasionally accelerates with his forehand. In a way, it’s a mirror image of the Serb’s game, except that he, at the beginning, was rather effective on the backhand side. We can wonder whether Djokovic is as well prepared as usual. Maybe this Rome tournament is seen as a warm-up event for him. It would be interesting to see what his schedule is on the road to Roland Garros and whether he will take part, as he did last year, in the Geneva tournament, which helped him prepare to excel at Roland Garros. From the information I have, the Serb is not registered in either Hamburg or Geneva and could therefore see this Rome tournament as major preparation — it will all depend on his results. For a first match against such a dangerous opponent, it looks tough for him. Having watched him a bit in practice, it seems to me that he is in a more offensive mindset at the moment, but I don’t have enough distance yet to confirm that for you. What I do know is that the odds are 1.35 for the Serb, but for me that’s too risky.