Titouan’s Challenge

After 3 years without being able to qualify for the main draw, Titouan is taking advantage of a Wild Card this year, and he fully intends to make the most of it.

Titouan is capable of great things on clay. He proved it last year with superb strings of high‑level victories.

I spotted him walking around the alleys of Roland Garros stadium on Tuesday, a sign that he came fairly quickly to train in Parisian conditions after his quarterfinal in Bordeaux.

Today he's up against a real handful in the person of Jakub Mensik. He knows him well, since he has already played him three times, but 3 years have gone by since then and Jakub is now ranked 28th in the world. The key thing to remember here is that Titouan knows he can bother him, and he knows how to do it.

All the more so because clay is not Jakub’s favorite surface, and the Czech has just gotten really worked up over the windy conditions in Hamburg. So after a very good tournament in Madrid, he’s not necessarily arriving with sky‑high confidence.

The conditions should nevertheless be favorable for the Czech, because it will be sunny and warm, which means lively clay. That leaves a bit less room for Titouan’s plan to set up his crafty game and his ability to neutralize his opponent’s power, notably thanks to his excellent movement. On the other hand, if he doesn’t serve quite as well, Titouan has nothing to be ashamed of in that department either and will also be able to benefit from free points and, why not, push the Czech into some hard‑fought ends of sets.