French Open 2022, 1st Round, Sunday, 22.05.2022
The starting signal for the French Open 2022, it has been given! Qualifying is already in full swing, now the 1st round of the main draw is also casting its shadow ahead. From the German point of view, there are once again hopes for a strong performance.
Apart from co-favourite Alexander Zverev, several other stars have of course travelled to the French capital. One of them will start against a Spaniard and is the outsider despite his better position in the world rankings. In my Altmaier Munar tip, I want to find out why.
He only knows one way in 2022: up! Daniel Altmaier is far from having reached his zenith, and his French Open this year should be correspondingly successful.
A few days ago he won the title at the Challenger in Heilbronn. He was the top seeded player, the competition was accordingly rather mediocre. Nevertheless, this success allowed him to move up to 54th place in the rankings.
He is now the second best professional in black-red-gold behind Alexander Zverev. A little tired, he served in Lyon only three days later and promptly failed in the 1st round. However, a 3-6, 6-3, 3-6 against Federico Coria was by no means an embarrassment.
Now the 23-year-old wants to present his best side on the big stage. His fans know: Two years ago, at his debut in Paris, Altmaier played the Grand Slam of his life.
He beat all three opponents in the qualifying rounds and went on to win the main draw. Feliciano Lopez, Jan-Lennard Struff and even Matteo Barrettini couldn’t stop him!
His straightforward victory against the Italian was particularly strong, even though he was eventually eliminated by Pablo Carreno Busta in the round of 16. So on clay, Altmaier knows how to perform. Against Jaume Munar too?
The two have never faced each other in the main draw, but we have already seen this duel twice in a qualifier. In 2016 and 2021, the Spaniard won twice outright. I wonder if the bookmakers have been influenced by this?
I definitely couldn’t tell. Twice he reached the 2nd round here, a round of 16 like Altmaier is not yet in the statistics. The 25-year-old prepared for Roland Garros at the Challenger in Bordeaux, but he was eliminated there against an underclass opponent.
Before that, in Barcelona, he had beaten Nikolos Bassilashvili. On good days, Munar is a firecracker, like in Indian Wells, where he not only won a set against Taylor Fritz but also beat Pablo Carreno Busta.
But he also knows the other side of the coin, knows what it’s like to get knocked out against underdogs. I think his odds of winning are a little too low for that, after all, Altmaier is in top form.
My Altmaier Munar Tip
The new number 2 in German tennis wants to show it to everyone in Paris. After his strong French Open 2020, Daniel Altmaier should go far again this year. Somewhat surprisingly, he is considered a clear underdog against Jaume Munar.
I don’t think the German will be beaten easily by him, he serves too well on the red clay. In that respect, I’m betting:
We see more than 3,5 sets!
