A Norwegian under surveillance.

When you see the conditions and the number of players who are breaking down physically, you immediately think of what happened to Ruud at Roland-Garros.

Ruud remains a player to watch in this kind of conditions. I’m not saying he’s going to explode, but they suit him. Anyway, apart from that, his level seems pretty good at the moment. Last week in Montreal, he played a very good first round before losing to Fonseca, after having played a high‑level first set. Then I felt like he just didn’t believe in it anymore. In the end, the match‑up wasn’t all that great because Fonseca was exploiting the open court, even on the forehand side, which stopped Ruud from being able to run around his backhand with a clear mind.

His track record in Cincinnati really isn’t great, with only a quarterfinal at best, and otherwise it’s pretty much just first‑round losses. For him, it’s fast and the bounce is quite low, which really isn’t what he prefers for his game.

It’s a hard court that suits O’Connell’s game quite well: he serves well and came through qualifying with a first‑round win over Majchrzak in a match he dominated from start to finish, with just a few scares at the end of the sets when it came to closing them out cleanly; otherwise, the rest was very good from him. I found him super fit and physically strong, and I also think he’s hungry for wins after being a bit in the shadows. He’s got a new haircut that looks a bit military and the guy seems on a mission. He’s also someone who can hit hard and flat down the line with his one‑handed backhand or use the slice. He can also come forward to finish at the net, which is an interesting weapon against Ruud. I don’t know if it’s a bit too early or simply not quite strong enough yet for the Australian to really trouble a player of this calibre, but I still kind of want to believe in it a bit.

No head‑to‑head between the two. O’Connell already has several matches in his legs. It’s a tournament that historically has never worked out for Ruud and the conditions worry me a bit for the Norwegian. If we put all that together, I think we have a certain direction to follow.