Struff, riding his momentum

The German is coming off an excellent tournament at Wimbledon, but he didn’t play in Gstaad. He hasn’t given any reason; maybe it was just a matter of managing his schedule, which would be a pretty smart choice.

Be careful with managing the post-exploit period, because it’s never easy to follow up after such a successful tournament. Especially here, where it’s not only a change of surface, but also a drastic change in conditions with a very high bounce and altitude. It’s pretty much the complete opposite of what he had during his great week at Wimbledon. That said, he’s a player who’s used to playing in these conditions. He won’t be lost and doesn’t need a huge readaptation period. However, there’s still this altitude issue, where you need to be able to control the ball, be well adjusted, and it’s still a surface change, considering he hasn’t played since. I think the first round might be the most dangerous one for the German. If he manages to get through that small hurdle, he can then roll on and be an outsider for the title?

This first round will also be tough because he’s facing Shevchenko, who just had a great tournament in Gstaad. The Kazakh knocked out dangerous opponents like Stricker and Halys, before taking a set off Tsitsipas, the eventual winner of the tournament. The Kazakh knows how to play at altitude, I said it again last week, and he’s getting back into form. So watch out, because he was extremely clinical all week, and I don’t think Struff’s profile is very favourable for him. He’s someone who plays with closed grips, who likes to have time to set up his game and then potentially be aggressive. Being rushed is not where he excels. I feel like this match is on Struff’s racket, that if the German plays well and adapts quickly to the conditions, he can really hurt him with the first few shots and keep him from playing.

It’s already been a few weeks now that Struff has been gaining momentum, and even during the clay swing, you could feel he was close to doing some damage. I’m going to stick with him and suggest we trust him, but relatively cautiously, without getting too carried away, because it’s still a first round.