A lucky star

After Roland-Garros it's another easy tournament start for FAA in terms of draws, but we know how he is...

Shevchenko, Prizmic and now Zheng; even if I respect these players, they’re not exactly heavy hitters strictly speaking. And Felix has to win without burning too much energy so he can be good in the big matches afterward. For now he hasn’t dropped a set, but he was clearly worse in the second round than in the first, his serve was less solid and Prizmic really gave him a hard time in the baseline rallies. Let’s say it’s a good win from Felix in the sense that he managed to win without playing all that well. I believe in him this week, but I’m still aware that in a match where his serve isn’t working so well, he gets caught off guard pretty quickly. Let’s just say I’m watching for the right opportunity.

Zheng could be that opportunity, or at least the American has the qualities needed to cause him problems. Good serve, high tennis IQ, confidence, youth: he’s a great trap to take, but unfortunately he’s already spent a lot of energy. That’s where I see his limit for now, because in a short format on grass I would have backed him 100%. I think he’s capable of hanging in there, I’m just worried about the length of the match; freshness matters.