And then?

Virtanen pulls off the feat of beating Shelton in a Grand Slam match. Does he still have enough left in the tank?

That really is THE question, yes. He was running more on adrenaline than on his legs at the end of the match. And let’s not forget that he’s coming not only from 3 qualifying matches, but also from two Challenger finals. So we’re now at his 16th match on grass in a month, meaning one every two days on average (actually one less, since Vukic withdrew in Birmingham).

On top of that, I really liked the match‑up for him against Shelton. He was reading the trajectories well, and using Shelton’s power nicely to send it back at the right time with his pure technique.

Against Fery, it’s a different match‑up. The Brit is a guy who goes on the attack, but he doesn’t have the same power. But above all, he’s a guy who moves well. There’s a bit of an awkward, hard‑to‑define match‑up here that I can’t quite put my finger on. I’d seen a report on Fery where they said that as soon as he understood he was extremely good at taking the ball early, he made a huge jump in the rankings. But right now I almost see him as better as a counterpuncher.