Novak Djokovic will be back in action for the first time since Wimbledon when he kicks off his Cincinnati campaign against Thiago Agustin Tirante on Saturday. Rafael Jodar hopes to continue his outstanding form at the expense of Denis Shapovalov.
(3) Novak Djokovic vs. Thiago Agustin Tirante
While several big stars are skipping the entire Masters 1000 stretch on North American hard courts, Djokovic is taking his talents to the Cincinnati Open following his Montreal absence. This marks the 39-year-old Serb’s first appearance since Wimbledon, where he reached the semifinals before falling to eventual champion Jannik Sinner 6-4, 6-4, 6-4. Djokovic is 45-12 lifetime in Cincinnati with three titles (2018, 2020, 2023).
Up first for the world No. 5 on Saturday is Tirante, whom he has never faced. The 25-year-old is playing by far the best tennis of his career, registering at a best-ever No. 50 in the world with 23 of his 33 tour-level match wins coming this season. Tirante advanced to the Montreal fourth round and maintained momentum with a wild 7-6(9), 6-7(7), 7-6(4) victory over Jan Choinski on Thursday. The Argentine’s huge serve and forehand make him a dangerous opponent in any setting, but Djokovic should shake off the rust in time to advance.
Pick: Djokovic in 3
(12) Rafael Jodar vs. Denis Shapovalov
Jodar and Shapovalov will be going head-to-head for the second time in their careers on Saturday. They previously faced each other much closer to the start of this season on the indoor hard courts of Dallas, where Shapovalov cruised 6-1, 6-2. Fast forward six months and everything has changed. Jodar, who was ranked 124th at the time, is now No. 11 in the world. The 19-year-old Spaniard was awesome during the clay-court swing and is now on fire on hard courts, coming off a runner-up performance in Washington, D.C. and a semifinal run in Montreal.
Shapovalov has gone in the other direction since his semifinal showing in Dallas. The 48th-ranked Canadian is just 14-16 this season and has won back-to-back matches only three times since his victory over Jodar. That trend is likely to continue, as Shapovalov will probably be one-and-done in Cincinnati following Thursday’s defeat of Adrian Mannarino. A much different Jodar and also a move from indoors to outdoors should help the 12th seed avenge his February loss.
Pick: Jodar in 2
Djokovic says he was dealing with some health issues, and has been for quite a while, vomiting into his towel
Shapo led 5-1 in the final set then lost the next 6 games.
Jodars comeback win was marred by The shoelace controversy. Shapo wasn’t too happy with Jodar taking multiple breaks to fix his shoelaces he did it twice in this match alone Shapo was also upset because Jodar was aseen drinking water when he was changing his shoelaces. Jodar is quickly earning a reputation as some sort of a badguy.