Kopriva – Altmaier French Open in Paris, 2nd round, Wednesday, May 28, 2025, 11:00 a.m.
What a start! Daniel Altmaier caused a sensation at the French Open in Paris by knocking out world number 4 Taylor Fritz. Now the tables have turned, and the German is the favorite in round 2.
He “just” has to repeat his performance against Fritz – if only it were that easy. In my Kopriva Altmaier tip, I’ll tell you why I’m betting on black, red and gold, but don’t think we’ll see a smooth victory.
Beat the world number 4 in four sets, spend “only” a good two and a half hours on court, and completely deserve to get through the first round? You can do that, Daniel Altmaier!
The 26-year-old revealed after his victory: The French Open? He particularly likes it. “I’ve worked very hard and gained a lot of confidence in the past few weeks. I love Paris. It will always be my favorite tournament.”
However, the German knows that two years ago, he caused a huge upset in the second round when he knocked out Jannik Sinner. In the following match against Grigor Dimitrov, he didn’t stand a chance.
Altmaier is therefore warned to stay focused. After taking the first set 7-5, Fritz managed to level the score at 6-3, but Altmaier’s brief break was over.
In the end, he won 7-5, 3-6, 6-3, 6-1, but celebrated relatively modestly. He knows that he still has a long way to go to achieve his goals. “I knew that Taylor’s game would suit me. It was a very good performance from me. I want to achieve something big in this sport, so I have to win matches.”
He can certainly improve on his performance in the first round. He made four double faults and only 55% of his first serves crossed the net. But at the same time, Fritz only managed to break once, while the German took five of his eight chances.
Can he repeat his best Grand Slam result from 2020? Back then, he reached the round of 16 as a qualifier – here in Paris, of course. How well does he know his current opponent Vit Kopriva?
The two faced each other once in 2021, with Altmaier winning 7-6, 3-6, 6-3. Compared to Kopriva, the German has a ten-centimeter height advantage, but that alone will not be enough to advance to the third round.
If we take a look at our betting providers, it is clear that Altmaier is the favorite going into Wednesday’s match. This is despite the fact that his rival is only 20 places behind him in the rankings.
Vit Kopriva played his first ever main draw match at the French Open a few days ago, and it lasted several hours! He eventually defeated Thiago Monteiro 6-4, 6-3, 4-6, 6-7, 6-1.
After squandering a 2-0 lead, to then lose the fifth set so convincingly is quite an achievement. 70% first serves in, 78% of points won on his first serve and 67% on his second? Not bad!
The Czech had come through qualifying to reach the third round of the Rome Masters, where he was defeated by top player Jack Draper. At the Challenger in Naples two months ago, Kopriva even stood at the top of the podium.
The man who has only played three main draw matches on the big Grand Slam stage in his entire career has already delivered some strong matches, which Altmaier will also have noticed.
My Kopriva Altmaier tip
Bad luck in the draw, but all the more luck and skill during the challenge! Daniel Altmeier didn’t just impress me with his victory over Taylor Fritz. He fully deserved to beat the world number 4, making the most of his break points.
It will now be all the more difficult to repeat this performance against Vit Kopriva. The Czech played wonderfully in his first round and should not be underestimated. All in all, I have therefore decided on the following bet:
Altmaier will win a match in over 3.5 sets!
