The new trend!

Shimabukuro has just broken into the top 100 and wants to establish himself; he's playing good matches and needs to be taken seriously!

He's confident, plays well on this surface and has just put together several high-level matches, everything's going smoothly for the Japanese player and you have to watch out for him. The only thing to keep an eye on is his arm/shoulder, which was bothering him at the end of the match against Shelton; he couldn’t serve at full power but it might also have been fatigue. One thing’s for sure, he’s going to grit his teeth and play this ATP 500, it’s a great opportunity for him, but if we quickly see that he’s not at his best, then there’ll be a big opportunity.

Griekspoor blew it in Hertogenbosch, he beat his friend VDZ while almost letting the match slip away, then he collapsed against Zhang. Sure, the Chinese player played well, but Griekspoor missed his match. I think Halle is cool for his game, his serve is going to hurt and it’s simply faster there, and we shouldn’t forget that on grass he’s an excellent player.

They already played each other in 2023 but that’s too long ago to draw any conclusions, especially since Shimabukuro is improving a lot. The Japanese player is dangerous but I’m worried about that slight injury; assuming everything is fine, I’m still more on team Griekspoor, who has a very high ceiling on this surface.