A Bumpy Road Back

De Jong is struggling to regain some momentum...

Here we go again, another Jesper preview! I'll repeat myself a bit quickly. Like a lot of other players who had a good 2025, De Jong is struggling to match the newly set expectations. We saw some good things from him at Roland Garros, but it has not been that good ever since. I have said it before, but I do think getting eliminated from the second round (getting destroyed by Baez) was really bad for him; he was defending finalist points and was really happy to be there. Both his first-round matches in Cincinnati and Winston-Salem have been quite poor, honestly- straight-set losses to Michelsen and Walton, not that competitive. There is a lot of frustration at the moment; he is making a lot of unforced errors, and he is beating himself at the moment. I have to say that I'm not yet convinced by his attitude; I don't see a lot of positivity or any signs that indicate he is close to getting back to a great level. I will say that he has been pretty good in Grand Slams recently, though.

As for Passaro (Marcos' darling last year), I was just able to catch his last qualifying round against Mochizuki. I remember he was strong in QLF last year at the USO, and I found him solid and strong against an erratic Mochizuki. Sometimes I feel like Passaro is too good to be a CH-level player, but then he goes on a bad streak, and you tell yourself, "Yeah, OK, I can see it now". Once again, going back to last year, I remember that he played a good five-setter against Cobolli. I want to believe in a good match from him again; I think these kinds of conditions suit him and that he does well when he can build up some confidence from the qualies. Also, De Jong looks very beatable at the moment...