A good opportunity to pull oneself together

Mensik was heavily defeated by Shelton, but when you look at the level of the American, who then went on to win the title, there isn’t much to beat himself up about.

The score is impressive, and maybe you didn’t really like Mensik’s attitude, but he was completely outclassed by Shelton’s level in this match.

I don’t know if the timing is relevant here, but we also recently learned that Mensik lost his dog, which is never easy to deal with. I don’t really like playing that card; sure, it’s not the death of a family member, but sometimes the bonds with animals are just as strong. Maybe his mind won’t really be on tennis, or maybe it won’t matter that much in the moment, but I still had to mention it. I’ll also point out that he’ll need to be monitored physically given the conditions, whether it’s the heat or the humidity. We know he’s prone to completely fading, especially when you look at how his matches went last week, with some lapses and drops in intensity, particularly in the second sets. It’s a pattern that comes up often with him and something to be wary of. Especially since Bellucci puts a lot of intensity into his matches, which can wear you down quickly if you’re not ready.

Bellucci played a decent match against Svajda, but it was mainly the American who shot himself in the foot with an uncountable number of errors and a lack of control. It’s not top-level Bellucci yet, but for a comeback, I think it’s pretty positive, given that last week he held on for a set before falling apart. Before his injury, he was playing really well, and I think it won’t take him long to get back to full form and deliver real performances.

Then again, there’s clearly a scenario where he doesn’t yet have enough immediate physical capacity and he blows up. Because logically, he should struggle on his return games, and Mensik returns quite well. I think Bellucci plays enough in rhythm for Mensik to like it, since he’ll be able to play on the counter, which is where he excels. I’d rather see Bellucci in more of a counterpunching mode, holding his ground and making him play, but I don’t think that’ll be his game plan. The fact that he’s left-handed doesn’t help him that much, in my opinion, since Mensik is better on the backhand side. He should probably focus more on the forehand without putting too much pace on it, but that’s not really his usual style. In other words, I’m not a fan of the match-up for the Italian, but I still think he’ll play a good match.