French Open, 1st round, Monday, 27.05.2024
A new face, a new name, a new hope! Henri Squire is celebrating his debut on the big stage at this French Open, so he has nothing to lose. His goal: to reach the 2nd round at least once.
The German has been drawn against a perfectly feasible opponent in the 1st round and lo and behold: he is even ahead in the bookmakers’ favor. In my Purcell Squire tip, I’ll tell you which match I’m expecting and why I’d place the tiebreaker bet
Seven German men are (or rather were) competing in the main draw at Roland Garros, which is an impressive line-up. In addition to familiar names such as Alexander Zverev, Jan-Lennard Struff and Daniel Altmeier, Henri Squire also stands out.
He is 23 years old, old enough to finally be able to gain his first experience at a Grand Slam. In fact, the young man has never even been allowed to take part in a major.
Squire had to invest a lot in qualifying before he was allowed to do so. He won against Damir Dzumhur (2-6, 6-3, 6-4), Hugo Grenier (6-2, 6-4) and Andrea Vavassori (6-3, 3-6, 6-4), so two of the three victories were quite close
But of course we can’t fault Squire for his fighting spirit, especially as a certain amount of nervousness is absolutely normal for a debutant. How did he get himself in shape for these exciting days in Paris?
Prior to the trip to the French capital, the world number 221 was naturally mainly to be found at Challengers and smaller tournaments. In Ostrava, which took place just over a month ago, he was quite successful.
Squire reached the final, but lost in three sets to Damir Dzumhur. Let’s remember: He was able to beat exactly THAT player in the qualification! Squire triumphed in front of his home crowd in Hamburg in mid-March, so he already has a tournament win to his name in 2024
This Monday, he will face the world number 94, so the Duisburg-born player was really lucky in the draw. For the first time in his career, he will face Max Purcell, and he even has the bookies with a German license on his side.
The average odds of 1.50 point to the German as the winner, while Purcell has odds of 2.50. And this despite the fact that the Australian was able to avoid qualifying.
Purcell was in the main draw of Roland Garros for the first time exactly one year ago, so he certainly doesn’t have much more experience. At least back then he made it through the first round and was “only” knocked out afterwards.
The 26-year-old may be ranked in the top 100 in the world, but his last few tournaments were not exactly the best. This means that he was also increasingly to be found at Challengers
Alongside Jordan Thompson, he won the tournament in Houston a few weeks ago and collected some other top results, but the strong results are lacking on his own.
At least he seems to be particularly motivated for major tournaments. At the last Australian Open, Purcell fought his way through to the next round against Mate Valkusz and then faced none other than Casper Ruud.
The match actually went to five sets and Purcell was on the verge of knocking the top star out of the race! So on a good day, the man from Australia is definitely one to watch
My Purcell Squire tip
Today is a dream come true for Henri Squire, he finally gets to serve at a Grand Slam! He had to work really hard in qualifying, surviving a third set in two out of three matches.
On the other side is Max Purcell, an Australian who is still somehow in the top 100 and only made a positive impression in doubles in 2024. Since I don’t see either of them as being completely stable in terms of nervousness, I’m assuming a closer match and say:
Squire and Purcell play tiebreak!
