La Bonzzzzz'

We were expecting Humbert against ADM, but it’ll be Bonzi instead, and he deserves it.

A surprise that isn’t really one in the end, we know Bonzi can play really well on grass and he’s been gaining momentum for a few weeks now. He confirmed that with a nice performance against Humbert in a generally well-controlled match, even if once again he dipped a bit in the second part of the match before finishing stronger. He contained Humbert’s power and was super solid on serve, he’s clever on grass.

Clever like ADM, the Australian is super mobile and annoying to play on this surface, and with his very flat, skimming shots he’s capable of doing great things. Despite his straight-sets win over Damm in the first round, I wasn’t hugely convinced, firstly because he let the American come back in the first set and could’ve lost the thread in the tiebreak, but it’s mainly in terms of attitude that he’s showing big signs of shakiness. His body language kind of betrays him, he’s not a disaster but you can see he’s lacking confidence at the moment and he’s far from being a killer. I’m conflicted because Hertogenbosch looks incredible for him, with the slow courts and low-bouncing grass, but I don’t think he’s at the top of his form. I remember an excellent tournament in Rotterdam at the start of the year where I had the same feeling, and in the end he made the final…

I do like the match-up for him though, Bonzi serves well but he’s no Damm either, and in terms of power we’re dropping a level too, so ADM should have enough time in this match. Historically it’s tight though, quite a few close matches, I can’t really picture this as a comfortable match-up for Bonzi, yet still.