The marathon runner

Damir Dzumhur is really quite a character. After winning a nearly 4-hour match in the Croatian heat, he wears out his opponent the next day, then loses in the final but still manages to take a set despite the difference in level. Final on Sunday, he’s playing again today, Tuesday, at 2:30 p.m. in Estoril, Portugal. We often wonder about the impact on players. Well, it depends on a lot of things. On the player, the final, the situation… sometimes the guy keeps riding the wave and lives off the adrenaline, sometimes he’s completely burnt out (and not even necessarily physically). So it’s very important to watch this match live closely.

On Gaston’s side, I saw him practice a bit today. He was hitting quite a few serves. He lost without playing well in Bastad against Altmaier, I think because he was coming off a Challenger final. You shouldn’t judge his performances too harshly. There’s a good group in Estoril between him, Droguet and Van Assche. I’ll remind you that Hugo and Titouan play on the same team in team matches.

In terms of match-up, a lot of things can happen. If Damir is confident, his game hasn’t changed for all that. In other words, he’ll still have to grind like crazy to win a match. I don’t think it bothers him to play a lefty. On the other hand, if there’s a bit of wind and the same few bad bounces as there were yesterday, a single bad call from the umpire could be enough for fatigue to turn his usual outbursts into destructive energy.