Gaining momentum and getting back in shape.

I loved Rottgering’s match yesterday. He’s a real talent who should get noticed in the coming months. He’s a powerful, left-handed player, athletically strong, with a good temperament. A complete player who’s going to do some damage and who just scored a nice win over Choinsky after coming through qualifying. He’s in form, confident, and doesn’t seem impressed by the event. He’s going to have a good opportunity because he’ll face Machac, who is probably the seeded player everyone wanted to meet, given that the Czech is coming back from injury and was disastrous in his return last week.

For his return to competition, Machac was really disastrous against Carreño last week, serving very poorly and making a large number of errors. He’s a player who needs rhythm and to feel the ball well, because he plays with huge risk-taking and timing that’s crucial to his tennis. As soon as things are even slightly off, it doesn’t look like anything anymore. He gives the impression of a player who doesn’t care and is just hitting balls away. Physically, we also know he can relapse at any moment. He’s not someone reliable, but I still find it positive to see him entered in this ATP 250. He could have been content with just playing the US Open and gradually getting back into rhythm. I think physically everything is OK, otherwise he wouldn’t take the risk of coming here.

This match largely depends on Machac, who is still a top player when he plays his game and has much more experience than the young Dutchman. Yes, the match is on his racket, but do we really want that to be the case right now, given that he’s only just coming back? To me, this really feels like a trap situation.