On the right track?

It's been a tough year for Royer...

Yes, it's been quite a disappointing year for the Frenchman, "only" having reached a Challenger final. He has not even managed to string together two consecutive wins in a single tournament yet on the main tour! We saw him break through last year, and as I often mention, this kind of "sophomore year" slump is nothing unusual. Despite all this, I want to take some decent things away from his matches in Montreal. I found his attitude against Paul quite good in the second round, and he did not play a terrible match either, even if Paul wasn't at his best either. Despite all his recent losses, Royer keeps having faith in his offensive and attacking style. Quite simply, the issue right now is that he is just missing too much. He creates chances, but struggles to convert them and also misses the big points - quite likely due to a lack of confidence right now. What worries me slightly is that he went just 1/9 on breakpoints, and he lost the second-set tiebreaker while being 5-1 up, losing six straight points. As I mentioned, he still had a good fighting spirit throughout the match, trying to encourage himself; let's hope he can keep that, even after a tough loss.

Tsitsipas has been working his way back for a while now. It's getting better, but I do still feel that he has not shown a great level yet on the hardcourts (post-Gstaad). Both his match against ADM in Washington and his match against Fonseca in Montreal ended up being rather scrappy. His past results in Cincinnati are actually quite good, which might come as a bit of a surprise, with the fast speed and low bounce. However, it kind of makes sense with Tsitsipas these days, doesn't it? His strength lies in his serve, +1 forehand, and net game, not in extended rallies. I also want to say that I think his return has improved at least a bit. While Tsitsipas should definitely be the favorite in this match, it perhaps will not be that straightforward, since Royer has the ability to return aggressively and take the ball early. However, the main issue is his ability to do so without being too erratic, while also staying composed on his own serve...