Big challenge

As if the conditions weren’t enough, here’s Casper facing a huge challenge!

What the hell did you go and do in Geneva, Casper, seriously. After making a final in Rome, I don’t get it. Really feels like he had a deal with Hamburg and, since he’s a man of his word, he went there and gave it everything. You don’t exactly need to be a rocket scientist to see that this year at Roland, if you’re not in Sinner’s half, you’re the favorite.

So yeah, here we are with Casper getting cramps and a good bout of sunstroke in his match against Safiullin when he was calmly leading 5–3 40–0 in the second.

Not being a doctor, I looked into the consequences a bit, and apparently, you don’t just recover from that like it’s nothing. I mean, playing at 100% two days later, even when you’re a pro, is pretty unlikely (apparently). So yeah...

I remember their match in Barcelona very well. Hamad did a Hamad. He literally dominated three quarters of the first set, breaking early and smacking bombs left and right, before basically throwing it away (he has 3 break points at 5–5 I think, doesn’t break, and gets broken right after). He also gets broken at 5–5 in the second set after having been a break up too. He started chickening out with those repeated drop shots, exactly what he does when he tightens up trying to close.

This year, I feel like he’s on a different trajectory. His issues are still there, but he’s managing them better, let’s say. And now he’s got that Barcelona match as a reference. Plus, we know: he’s not the type of profile Casper likes facing. The Norwegian is not comfortable with the match-up.

But there’s a but. A big one too: Medjedovic is no benchmark in the heat either! Remember his Roland Garros last year, for example. And against Hanfmann, he already showed some serious signs of fatigue as well. So yeah, this match is a real headache...