Juan Manuel in full force

The Argentinian has transformed this season and now arrives at Roland-Garros with confidence and the status of favorite in this first match.

I'm not very surprised to see JM Cerundolo at this level given the progress and work he's put in, he's almost become a new player. Between his stronger physique and the added power in every area of his game, he’s filled some big gaps while keeping his style and mentality. He’s a bit more aggressive and finally gets a few free points with his serve! He just won a Challenger by the way, a great victory against Collignon in a nail‑biter. He then chose to skip Geneva and that’s an excellent decision, he’s saving energy and wants to have a good run at Roland Garros. To sum up, we’re dealing with a player who’s full of confidence and in great form.

The assessment isn’t the same for Fearnley, who is still just as hard to read. He’s coming back from injury and in Rome he played well in qualifying before doing anything and everything against Mpetshi even though he had the match in his hands, which is typical for the Brit. He gets very nervous and above all he has a serve that can let him down at any moment. He went on to Bordeaux and lost in the first round to Droguet. He could play well on clay but he’s still too fragile in lots of areas; personally I absolutely can’t trust him, even if I can admit he has real qualities.

The match‑up isn’t too bad for him on top of that, he likes to battle from the baseline and still has a real ability to hurt you in one or two shots. He’s interesting as a big underdog or when nothing is expected from him, which is kind of the case here, isn’t it?