French Open in Paris, 3rd round, Saturday, 03.06.2023
An introduction without euphorically mentioning his name in the very first lines? Impossible! Daniel Altmaier has caused quite a big coup at the French Open 2023, now wants to keep his performances consistent.
In the 3rd round, to be played on Saturday, he is once again the underdog at Betano, but that hasn’t bothered him before. In my Altmaier Dimitrov tip, I now go in search of the reasons for this tennis fairytale and reveal why a result without a tiebreak is rather unlikely.
Playing tennis for five and a half hours, giving away match points, fending off even more of them, beating one of the world’s best and then crying tears of pure joy – just what you do on an afternoon / evening in Paris!
Daniel Altmaier not only played his way into the hearts of the German fans on Thursday, but also caused astonishment all over the world. Many knew that he was in a good mood, but then it came to the duel with Jannik Sinner.
The 24-year-old was the gross underdog against the world number 9, even a single won set came with odds of 1.90. But right from the start he showed that he didn’t just come here to be congratulated!
It was 6-7, 7-6, 6-1 when Altmaier faced a difficult fourth set and his opponent suddenly had two match points. Match decided? No way, the German rallied again, won the tiebreak and made it 2:2.
In the decisive fifth set, both players suddenly showed nerves of steel. First a break by Altmaier, then a re-break by Sinner, at 6-5 the German from Kempen was allowed to hold serve.
In this game, he missed a total of five match points, fending off several from Sinner. At some point, after almost exactly five and a half hours, he finally took heart and closed the match with a fabulous ace.
15 of the South Tyrolean’s 21 break chances did not find their target, Altmaier fought for every ball. This is not the first time that the Madrid quarter-finalist has reached the 3rd round of a Grand Slam, he had already achieved this feat in Paris three years ago.
At that time, the qualifier turned into a big sensation, only losing to Pablo Carreno Busta in the last 16. It was a good two years ago when he first met Grigor Dimitrov, his current opponent.
In Indian Wells he lost 4-6, 2-6, and now the two will play each other for the first time on clay. With odds of 3.20 to 1.35, the German is behind at the German bookmakers, but against Sinner his values were much higher.
Dimitrov must have noticed that Altmaier is the man of the moment in the German tennis team. Of course, the world number 29 brings much more experience on the big stage.
But: At the French Open, the Bulgarian, who shines above all on grass, has only made it to the last 16 once. This happened in 2020, the very year in which Altmaier also appeared in the top 16.
So far, the 32-year-old has not lost any matches, but he has not had any top opponents either. He first won 6-0, 6-3, 6-2 against Timofei Skatow, then followed it up with a 7-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over Emil Ruusuvuori.
In the last major tournaments, he did not exactly show frighteningly strong performances, but he did reach the final before the French Open in Geneva. There is no question that there is enough individual quality here.
My Altmaier Dimitrov Tip
From the German point of view, we hope of course that Daniel Altmaier has regenerated quickly after the almost five and a half hours from the 2nd round. In any case, if you beat Jannik Sinner, you can also beat Grigor Dimitrov!
The player from Kempen keeps his form, shows that the quarter-final in Madrid was no coincidence. He serves strongly, can fend off breaks all the time and simply never gives up. A quality that Dimitrov will also feel.
The Bulgarian is difficult to assess and had two fairly easy opponents in Paris. Since he is not a specialist on clay and Altmaier had an affinity for tiebreaks recently, I can only guess in the end:
The match includes at least one tiebreak!
