ATP Tournament in Eastbourne, Round of 16, Wednesday, 22.06.2022
Eastbourne or Mallorca, where are the players preparing for Wimbledon? Some top players have already travelled to England, including a local hero in Cameron Norrie. His most recent tournament at home was sobering, whether he has recovered from that yet?
In Eastbourne he will start against an opponent who has already played three matches and is therefore well-rehearsed.
Seeded number one, the anticipation of the home fans and the last chance to get fit for Wimbledon – Cameron Norrie is among the top favourites at Eastbourne due to a number of factors.
However, similar sentiments were felt in Queens a few days ago, where the home appearance went completely wrong. 7-6, 1-6, 4-6 against Grigor Dimitrov, Norrie was out as early as possible.
He was unable to take advantage of any of the four break chances and was also inferior to his opponent on serve. Nevertheless, the Briton has had a rather strong year so far in 2022, not only because he won the title in Lyon.
He has already beaten various top stars this year, including Stefanos Tsitsipas. His twelfth place in the world rankings is more than deserved. Before Wimbledon, however, he wants to make up for his poor performance in Queens.
He has not yet reached more than a quarter-final in this tournament, so a single win is enough to set his best result. Of course, this is also because he was allowed to start as a top-seeded player with a walk-through.
He met Brandon Nakashima, his current opponent, once in 2020 and once in 2021. If he lost the duel two years ago, the victory a little later was much more important, because it meant the title in Los Cabos.
Although Nakashima is clearly behind him as world number 54, I see rather narrow differences in terms of odds with the bookmakers. 1,60 to 2,30, at Betano both single bets could be supplemented by a bonus.
So Brandon Nakashima is expected to do a lot, perhaps also because he is already well-rehearsed in Eastbourne? The American already had to start in qualifying and did so by losing a set of all things.
In the 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 against Sam Querrey, he became stronger with every rally and consequently was not to drop another set. He won 6-4, 6-4 against Steve Johnson and was thus in the main draw.
There, he started with a match against the local hero Jay Clarke, which he won 6-1, 6-3. Especially the fact that Nakashima did not allow a single break is impressive.
He had already appeared in the quarter-finals in Subirton and Queens, and at the French Open he forced Alexander Zverev into a tiebreak twice. His serve is strong, besides Zverev, Carlos Alcaraz also had to go into a tiebreak this year.
At his debut in Eastbourne, the 20-year-old wants to show that he can also do it on the green grass.
My Norrie Nakashima Tip
The Eastbourne crowd will be hoping for Cameron Norrie to have strong days. After recent weaknesses, the Brit wants to get back to his old strength. Will he be able to beat Brandon Nakashima with ease?
In my analysis, I was quite impressed by the young American. He also serves well against the big players and has already shown a strong performance three times in the current tournament. This is also the reason for my following tip:
We see more than 21.5 games!
