Fokina facing his demons.

We all know Fokina’s track record in finals, and on top of having to beat an excellent Quinn, he’ll also have to overcome his demons.

I remember a bunch of finals where Fokina was playing incredibly well and fully deserved the win before completely collapsing for reasons nobody could really explain. There were stories about lets, line calls, but every time Fokina ended up losing. The poor guy is carrying a serious mental burden and will have to find a way to approach this match in the right frame of mind so he doesn’t fall apart if he misses chances or finds himself quickly behind. If it were only that, I’d tell you that a high level of play could completely make up for the psychological side, if he were truly above his opponent. But this week we’ve got a XXL Quinn who’s going to fully compete in the tennis department, and I’m really worried for Fokina that it might slip away yet again. The Spaniard is playing really well, he held his own against a peak Marozsan and didn’t panic after losing the first set. That’s already very good going into this final.

On Quinn’s side, we saw the American dominate Borges and deliver the perfect match. That’s more or less what I had in mind in my analysis yesterday, given that he’s a player who really feeds off confidence and, once he finds his game, he moves forward very strongly. The conditions are perfect for him: it’s not really bouncy and it’s very fast, so he can fully deploy his game. The fact that it’s a final, I’m not even sure that’ll stop him from going all out, because he knows it’s going to come down to ultra-aggressive tennis, as usual for him. He’s very strong, but he doesn’t really have a plan B, and if he starts making a few errors and sees that Fokina is countering him well, there will surely be an opportunity for the Spaniard. The match seems to tilt in his favor if he manages to return properly, which is no easy task. It’s really a very hard final to predict because Fokina is such a special case. We shouldn’t forget he’s also playing at home, which adds extra pressure. If he’s ever going to win a final, could this be the one?