First round XXL

I think that in the coming years, this kind of matchup could take place in the last four of some of the world’s most prestigious tournaments. But for our greatest delight, we get to see it as early as a first round of an ATP 500.

This is potentially one of the strongest first rounds of any tournament this year. We’ve got two players with top-10 potential. They’re meeting straight away in the first round after not having played since Wimbledon. It’s a bit hard to call, because we haven’t seen them since that famous tournament. And you have to try to anticipate what might happen. For Fils, it’s fairly simple. When he came back at Wimbledon, he played an epic match against Collignon. Then he played poorly against Berrettini. Even playing badly, I feel he still managed to stay quite close and create chances. That’s something he’s really improved on this year: winning matches while playing badly. Granted, this time it didn’t work out because he had an XXL, clutch Italian on the other side of the net. But it’s also in line with what Arthur is capable of. He’s gained maturity and become one of the most solid players on tour.

For Jodar, things have been a bit more muddled in recent weeks; I feel like he’s lost some of his momentum. He had put together an exceptional run in Marrakech, then Madrid, then Rome, playing perfect tennis and thrashing everyone. But since then, over the last few tournaments, especially with Roland Garros and Wimbledon in mind, he’s been winning in a much more labored way. He too is learning how to win while playing badly, but I think he’s come very close to crashing out on several occasions. I’m also not a big fan of how he manages his emotions in tougher matches.

They played each other during Jodar’s hot streak in Barcelona, and Fils came out on top despite losing the first set. The Frenchman had many more opportunities than the Spaniard and deservedly won. And that was during the period when Jodar was playing his best tennis, which, to me, is no longer the case now, since he’s a bit more labored in how he’s playing his matches.