Royer, the comeback?

Still looking for his best level this season, Valentin Royer used Roland and Wim to regain a bit of confidence, in my opinion. Here he is again, pretty good in his role as a super combative player, without yet being at his prime.

On Alex’s side, we all found him convincing recently against Altmaier at Wim, whereas he was very unconvincing at Roland.

But what attracts me here is of course the match-up. Alex is the perfect guy in heavy and humid conditions (see Munich). On the other hand, if the match is played at 4 p.m. as announced, there will still be enough daylight, and that will favor Valentin’s game, who needs to take control of the rallies with his forehand. Now, Val also knows how to be a grinder, but he’s a grinder who looks to move forward. He’s almost always trying to hurt his opponent, whereas Alex builds his point and tries to make the other guy miss by defending intelligently. It should be noted that Molcan is left-handed, so he’ll be able to target the Frenchman’s backhand a bit more easily. I couldn’t say if it’s his weak shot, but it’s definitely not the one he uses to dictate play.