A bit of an unknown for Atmane.

The Frenchman doesn’t have much experience on grass and we’re going to have to find out what his potential is, just like he will himself, I imagine.

Not even ten matches on grass for our Frenchman, who’s also coming off a huge disappointment at Roland-Garros. Mentally, I’m wondering how he’s going to bounce back from that, because he cracked at an important moment when he had the match in his hands and was playing better than his opponent. He might show up here with a shitty mentality and not much desire to play on grass, basically throwing this match away? Or maybe he’s fired up and tells himself that his momentum is positive and that he has to keep giving it his all by playing good tennis.

First of all, regarding his ability to play well on grass and adapt to the surface, I’d say he doesn’t really have the ideal profile to perform in these conditions. His forehand has a lot of topspin, he puts a lot of spin on the ball and that won’t be very effective on this surface, same for his serve. But on the other hand, he still has some strong weapons and with a bit of change and adaptation to try to make his game work on grass, I think he can be a tricky opponent. His lefty touch, his wide serve, his flat backhand, his aggressive tennis. He’s got a way to do something here.

I have a bit fewer doubts about Borges who, even if he doesn’t have a lot of experience on this surface, is more naturally good on it. He hits very flat and plays a hard-hitting style of tennis that works well. He’s also a player who knows how to keep his center of gravity quite low and stay compact on his shots and in rallies, which is a good thing. Last year, he really had some encouraging results and I really liked his level at the end of this clay-court season. For me, he comes in with a lot more confidence, but also with a playing style that should work better without too much effort, whereas Atmane is going to have to go a bit against his nature and try things, while Borges can just naturally play his own game.