The least followable guy on the tour?

Machac is a mystery, he’s injured/sick 50% of the time, and the rest of the time he can play at a top‑20 level without even trying.

The Czech pulled out of Rome because of a virus, it’s not the first time this season and he even skipped Hamburg, really weird. I kind of want to say we’re used to it with him and that you almost have to not care! We should see him ready to fight at Roland-Garros and, as I said earlier, he’s got a huge level that can allow him to play at a super high standard. I like what he’s doing on clay this season, he’s playing good tennis again and if it really was a virus and not an injury, then for me he’s going to be hard to beat over these two weeks.

The other absentee this week in Hamburg is Zizou Bergs. The Belgian pulled out of Hamburg citing an injury, but he reassured everyone by saying he’d been playing a lot in a row and preferred to be at 100% for Roland, both physically and mentally, which is vital for him. It’s not the first time he’s voluntarily stopped and then come back more fired up than ever, with a really high level and crazy motivation in big tournaments. He’s a player we know is capable of raising his level when his brain is switched on, and everything suggests that an R1 at Roland after a week off should bring out his best version. Except that that’s not everything, and the level of play hasn’t been that high lately. He played a great match against Rublev in Monte Carlo and since then? A few wins but hard-fought ones and no real big performance, he’s even losing to Cilic, Atmane and Vallejo..

2–1 Bergs in the H2H but that’s a long time ago. I still see Machac as better on clay.