Tennis Prediction Martin Damm vs Alex De Minaur: s’Hertogenbosch

🇺🇸 Damm +1.5 sets · 2.01 | 0.75u

🇺🇸 Damm S1 · 3.10 | 0.25u

• On paper, the duel seems quite unbalanced. Alex De Minaur is obviously the better player of the two and the logical favourite for this match.

• But I would still be surprised to see him arrive for this first match of the season on grass and immediately roll out his best tennis.

• We know the difficulty of this clay-grass transition: the benchmarks change completely, the rallies are shorter and it often takes a few matches to regain your automatisms.

• Especially since the Australian is not necessarily arriving with overflowing confidence after a generally correct but far from exceptional clay court tour.

• On the other hand, Martin Damm is arriving in form, the American already has three wins in 's-Hertogenbosch with two qualifying wins and a very convincing victory over Jaume Munar.

• And this detail seems particularly important to me, while De Minaur is still discovering the conditions, Damm already knows them perfectly.

• He has rhythm, confidence and above all a lot of benchmarks on this surface.

• I also really like his profile in this match-up, his left-handed style can naturally bother De Minaur, especially on the outside service patterns.

• But above all, he has a very big serve quality that could allow him to stay constantly in touch.

• On grass, this kind of weapon can do a lot of damage: a few good return games are sometimes enough to go and get a set, especially when the opponent is playing his first match on the surface.

• I can perfectly see Damm starting strong, taking advantage of his current confidence and immediately putting pressure on the Australian.

• De Minaur remains obviously capable of adapting during the match thanks to his quality of movement and his consistency from the back of the court but before that really kicks in, he could very well concede a set.

• Especially since Damm will have absolutely nothing to lose in this match, he can play freely, take risks behind his first serve and rely on the fast conditions to shorten the rallies.

• I still think the Australian should end up getting through thanks to his experience and overall solidity but seeing Martin Damm take at least one set in this context does not seem impossible to me at all.

• Between his current momentum, his excellent serve quality, the confidence he has built up since the qualifiers and the fact that De Minaur is playing his first grass court match of the season, I see real value here.