Tennis Prediction Arthur Fils vs Rafael Jodar: Washington

Washington 🇺🇸

• On July 2, Arthur Fils left Wimbledon. On the 3rd, Rafael Jodar did the same. Since then, neither has played a single match. 26 days for the Frenchman, 25 for the Spaniard, and they both find themselves here, on a surface they haven't played since the spring.

• Two players resuming at the same time, it's rarely a clean match. The bearings take a few games to come back, the break points are exchanged in both directions, and the sets don't close as quickly as they should.

• The context goes in the same direction: these two are separated by two places in the rankings. It's not a seeded player against a young passer-by, it's a match between two players of the same rank, and it rarely ends in an hour and a quarter.

• Their only previous encounter already tells the story. In April, in Barcelona, it took three sets for Fils to get through, and it was even the Spaniard who had pocketed the first.

• What I like the most is the way their games cling to each other. Fils is a server first and foremost, and it's in return that he is the least at ease. On the other hand, Jodar's best asset is precisely his ability to return and make a big server doubt.

• Result: the one who serves hard has trouble concluding the other's games, and the one who returns well can't get ahead. These are exactly the matches where the sets go to 7-5, to 6-4 snatched, or to a tie-break.

• I don't hide the other scenario: a player resuming can also be walked all over, and Fils has completed several of his spring matches in under 20 games. If one of the two is completely off, the line is missed.

• But between two players of this level, at this ranking, who haven't played for almost a month and barely know each other, I see a long battle and a match that largely exceeds the line.