ATP Tournament in Stuttgart, 1st round, Tuesday, 13.06.2023
Clear the stage for the fast grass! Soon the third Grand Slam of the year will be on the agenda in Wimbledon, so it is all the more important to test your form at the various preparatory tournaments.
At the moment, it’s all happening in Stuttgart, where the German starters naturally want to show themselves from their best side. One of them excelled on grass in 2022, but is currently out of form. In my Barrere Otte tip, I now reveal why I share Bwin’s tight odds and expect at least a tiebreak!
It was almost exactly a year ago that Oscar Otte thrilled German tennis fans. The Rhinelander worked his magic on grass, annoyed even various players from the very best.
In Stuttgart, where he will start the tournament on Tuesday, he was also convincing, reached the semi-finals and was unlucky to lose 6-7, 6-7 to Matteo Berrettini. Will he be able to continue this performance now?
So far, the year 2023 has not gone to Otto’s liking. Two wins in a row? The 29-year-old is still waiting for that! He rarely makes it past the first round, so it would be all the more important to get off to a good start on the Neckar.
After losing to Alexander Shevchenko at the French Open, the journey led to Heilbronn. The home advantage fizzled out quickly, Otte suffered a 4-6, 7-6, 1-6 defeat straight away.
How well does he cope on grass now? It is not uncommon for players to have a harder time in their first tournament on a new surface, but Otte can’t really do any worse than he has done recently.
He is not even in the top 140 in the world rankings anymore, but on Tuesday he will meet an opponent who is clearly ahead of him. Gregoire Barrere is currently ranked number 58, but is still the underdog in the direct duel!
Our betting providers see Otte ahead with an average of 1.70 to 2.00, but why actually? It can’t be the current form curve, and the direct comparison doesn’t really speak in favour of the German either.
In 2022 in Metz, Otte lost 6-7, 5-7 very narrowly, if we take the duels in the qualifications into account, it is 3:1 for the Frenchman. So Barrere will be able to cope with the fact that he has the higher odds in his favour.
This is the 29-year-old’s first appearance in the main draw in Stuttgart, and his last few weeks can actually be summed up quite quickly: Not excellent, but then peppered with better results than Otte.
Whether Grigor Dimitrov, Tommy Paul or Karen Khachanov, Barrere played really well against some of the greats, collected several tiebreaks and proved that he rightly belongs to the best 60 in the world.
At the French Open, he was knocked out in the first round, but lost very narrowly in five sets to Emil Ruusuvuori. Since he almost won against Stefanos Tsitsipas at Wimbledon a few years ago, he should not be underestimated on grass under any circumstances.
My Barrere Otte Tip
When will the knot finally burst for Oscar Otte? The Cologne native is not even close to his form of last year, now he finally gets to serve on his favourite surface again.
He wants to improve in Stuttgart, but Gregoire Barrere is by no means an easy number. In recent months, he has attracted attention with close results. Since Otte is actually quite good at service, we can imagine another close result and guess:
Otte and Barrere go to at least one tiebreak
