The backlash and the flip side

Nava has been grinding away on clay for a good year now and his progress is clear, the problem is that he’s neglected the other surfaces a bit too much.

Pretty good what Nava’s been doing whenever we see him on the main tour lately; the American is gaining consistency and clearly improving thanks to a game that’s getting stronger, notably because he had to adapt to play on clay. He’s learning to manage his matches and his emotions better, but he’s still far from being a clay-courter; he keeps a very aggressive and erratic baseline game. Watch out for the physical backlash though, he’s playing a ton with already 47 matches this season. Since Roland Garros he’s had a “good” Challenger tournament in Germany, then a poor Challenger in Bratislava, and he’s just started his grass campaign with a loss to Stewart. So he’s not in great form at the moment, and he especially doesn’t have much experience on grass, with only 13 matches historically (and just 5 small wins). I think he can bother some good players with his serve quality and ultra-aggressive style, but there are also a lot of players who can make him crack.

Buse, in my opinion, falls into the second category. The Peruvian is excellent at making his opponents crack; first of all he’s a top returner, he doesn’t give away many aces and he makes you play. Then he’s clever from the baseline and always finds a way to get the ball back in. He doesn’t have much grass-court experience either, but between his matches at Queen’s and in Mallorca, I think we can already say he’s going to be a pain to beat again. He’s understood the basics, he keeps the ball low and also knows how to come forward and finish at the net when the situation calls for it – a truly intelligent player who knows how to adapt, and for that reason alone he starts with a nice edge over Nava.

I like everything about this match-up from Buse’s side, whether it’s the format, the surface or the head-to-head dynamics. He looks like a strong favorite in this match against a Nava who’s capable of anything, but who still has big weaknesses against this type of player in general.