The Trungelliti legend

The Argentine is having an incredible season that nobody saw coming, and it’s not over yet

After some breakthroughs on clay and a few big matches against top players, Trungelliti moved onto grass last week in Eastbourne. He did more than hold his own, notably with a win over Gill, a local player, in qualifying, before losing to another local. He then benefited from Lucky Loser status to get back into the main draw and came very close to beating Pinnington Jones before collapsing, having had a match point. It’s not the first time he’s fallen apart after missing big chances, but the important thing is that we’re dealing with a very dangerous player, capable of playing well and springing surprises anywhere. That’s what we need to remember.

The difference in potential level on grass is quite huge here. On the other side we’ve got Damm, the tall left-handed American, very dangerous with his powerful, straightforward tennis. He’s been pretty solid in the grass-court warm-up tournaments.

He came through qualifying in Nottingham, then in Hertogenbosch, then at Queen’s. He hasn’t produced a real standout performance afterwards, but he’s shown that he’ll be really hard to beat on this surface. Even though I’m obviously wary of Trungelliti, I can’t ignore the match-up and the surface, and for me, M. Damm has a big advantage. His quality of serve and his aggressive game should allow him to make the difference in this match.