Times are changing..

The philosopher Tsitsipas will be able to explain this sentence to you

It's crazy to think that in this matchup, it's Buse, the seeded player, against Tsitsipas. The Greek is in a full downward spiral. And of course, since he's no longer protected by his ranking, he's getting more and more bad draws. That’ll be the case again this time against Buse, a player who's having a great season and improving across the board. It's yet another match where Tsitsipas could lose himself if he’s not careful.

The Greek was crowned champion here in 2022, but that already feels like another life, or almost, for him. It was actually his most prolific season in terms of wins, with 64 victories on tour. In other words, he has never been better than he was that year. A lot has changed, and he seems to have lost his danger factor and his tennis. This very fast grass can help him get his serve and forehand going, but his backhand could also be a liability.

Buse is still discovering the surface, but for his grass-court debut last week at Queen's, he beat Giron, then took a bit of a spanking against Nakashima. We got a few clues about his potential level on this surface. Obviously, he’s not the kind of player who’s going to take the ball early, come to the net, and spend his time playing classic grass-court tennis, but he is smart in the way he plays, just like on clay. He seems to have understood that he needs to stay low on his legs, and in any case he keeps a high tennis IQ. Playing on this grass in Mallorca can once again help him, I think. The bounce is good, he’ll be able to play his game a bit. And in terms of movement, it’s fairly forgiving, in my opinion. Add to that the heat, which he handles very well, unlike Stefanos, whom I’ve seen boiling over several times when it gets too hot. I think once again, Buse will be dangerous.