Sometimes yes, sometimes no

What to think of Matteo Berrettini?

And yes, because a lot is at stake there for me.

He hasn’t played Roland for 5 years because of his health. He plays Rome for the first time and gets blown off the court by Popyrin because he was surely tired from the Challenger he played the week before. There he beats an out-of-form Fuxo in R1, and now we find him in a coin flip against Arthur.

Of course under normal circumstances he plays better than Arthur on clay. The man nicknamed the “hammer” because of his sledgehammer forehand will be able to move Arthur around and will try to hold up physically in this heat. Because it costs him a lot to run around his backhand for 3 hours. And I think Arthur handles the conditions better than he does. We’ve already seen a few times this season Berrett in total shutdown mode when he was cooked physically.

The whole equation for Rinder will be to make Berrett play while still playing his own disruptive game. Choosing the right moments. If he manages to clutch set 1 or set 2, Rinder is the favorite for me. So we’re counting on the X factor. Because from the baseline, for at least a good first half of the match, we know who’s better...