High Ceiling vs High Floor

Which one do you prefer?

As for Walton, I will repeat what I have said in other previews/comments I have done regarding him. I find him to be the definition of a solid player; he keeps his level just about the same every time! It makes sense, since he is very well-balanced... serve is good but not amazing, same for the forehand, which allows him to hold his own serve reasonably well. This kind of player, combined with good endurance, can be tough to beat, especially if you are not at your best or if you lack weapons. I would say we have a really good example recently: his two matches against Buse. In the first match, he managed an easy win in straight sets against the Peruvian, who was not playing well. However, they had a rematch in Winston-Salem, where he instead was taking quite a beating from Buse, even if he managed to take a set. Quite simply, players with a higher ceiling tend to have the match on their racket against Walton.

Where does this lead us? Well, Yibing Wu is a guy with a lot of talent and a high ceiling. We have seen that for a few years now, some of it on the Challenger tour. He is a great ballstriker from both wings, and he has the ability to play fast, something that is more and more required in the modern game. There is a reason we have seen him play excellent matches against big names, like his match against Djokovic at Wimbledon. However, he has had a lot of issues with injuries, and perhaps as a result of this (and other things), he is someone who lacks consistency. Just take a look at his last match against Comesana, where he was spraying errors. Quite frankly, he has not been in the best of form for a while now, even struggling quite a lot early on in Challengers. Still, keep in mind that this was the case as well before he went on court and delivered a great performance against Novak. I would say that Wu is a player who thrives under the spotlight. Obviously, facing Walton is not nearly the same thing, but hey, it's still an important first round of a Grand Slam. If Yibing turns up, there is not a lot that Walton can do, in my opinion. But that's a big IF...