I’m happy to take a firm stance against Francisco Cerundolo as his data in the last few months is extremely disappointing.
The Argentine was generally disappointing on the hard courts both before and during the Australian Open, and parlayed that with a 3-3 run on the Golden Swing, an underwhelming set of results.
While I understand the multi tour-level champion has a level in the locker room that’s very high, it’s not easy for him to actually attain that and suffers huge lows at times.
His success is based on his ability to find his forehand and utilize his heavy shots to unsettle his opponent.
But, we haven’t seen that bruising style in quite some time and in order for him to find it, he needs to overcome an extremely in-form an comfortable Kazakh.
Shevchenko has been so active and so solid this season, both indoors and outdoors.
He passed a very tough test in Dominik Koepfer and hit outs like that – at his age – gives him valuable experience in close contests.
Koepfer’s level has been high this season, and when you add in this wins over Zhang, Rune, and Bonzi (the Frenchman was solid that day in France), you’ve simply got a player who is objectively traveling so much better than his opponent.
There is some chance Cerundolo decides this week – a Masters 1000 – is the time to turn on the jets, and that wouldn’t baffle me considering he has been more active on the hard courts in the last year or so.
But, given the sheer lack of playing time and success, I’d be more confident he’ll find his feet at Miami.
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