De Minaur wins the US Open

That was my slightly ironic line to my colleagues Marcos and David the day before yesterday. Yeah, because damn, you really had to dig deep to get that one! Quentin Halys, he’s such a pain in the ass to beat when he’s on. He’s just horrible. And it took an Aussie with some grit to finally get past him. Including smashing a racket in anger. And in a way, that’s exactly what I wanted to see from De Minaur. A reaction. Not some speech like “it’ll be fine, there are positives even in defeats.” Nah man, you’ve been playing like crap for a while, you’ve got to get your hands dirty, and that’s exactly what you just did.

I remember last year, after his burnout at Roland. He reacted well at the end of the season. Maybe he needs a bit of time. And this match, against a Fery who’s just coming back to competition, is a chance to see if it’s the start of a recovery.

On Fery’s side, he was a whisker away from losing against the Duck. Then, coming back, the Duck a bit on fire... It’s the win we need to take away from it.

We’ll probably get an attacker/counterpuncher match-up here. De Minaur should take the initiative and, if he has indeed regained a bit of confidence, handle this match. What am I betting on?