The sanders

Two players who kind of found their limits on grass, even if they can play well on it, are back on their favorite surface. Heavy, damp clay, with a temperature of 30 degrees: perfect for these two grinders!

Both of them are in pretty good shape. Their grass matches honestly weren’t that bad. Dzumhur even played a clay tournament after Wimbledon, and Rocha won a Challenger on clay before Wimbledon. So both players are in a rather decent form.

Dzum had an excellent tournament here last year. The conditions suit him well.

Now, the question is what kind of tennis this match-up is going to favor. Rocha has more power. He’ll be able, a bit more easily, to make the difference from the baseline. On the other hand, he’ll also expose himself a bit more to risk at the same time. On Damir’s side, his game is more varied. He works his opponent a lot more, building his points with quite a few different types of shots, whereas Rocha is more of a classic clay-courter with heavy topspin in the cross-court rallies.

One style of play will take over the other, then the opposite. There’s a strong mental component in this match, and there, I prefer Damir. But I’m afraid that if Rocha finds the right way to play Damir, then it could be one-way traffic. There’s a fine balance to be found between defense and attack against the Bosnian, but if you find your cruising speed, he won’t have a ton of tactical plans to change the pattern.