Alex de Minaur is enduring a very tricky time of late, but now has another chance to turn things around at the Hamburg Open.
De Minaur thinks he has improved on clay, but the Australian has now lost his last three matches on the surface.
After winning his opener in Barcelona, the ATP number eight has since suffered early exits in Madrid and Rome.
De Minaur has accepted a Hamburg wildcard in a bid to get his season back on track, particularly with Roland Garros rapidly approaching.
But he hasn’t exactly been handed great news as he looks to end his poor run on clay given his tricky Hamburg Open draw.
Will Alex de Minaur ever reach a Grand Slam semifinal?
What is Alex de Minaur’s ceiling?
Alex de Minaur handed tricky Hamburg draw
De Minaur is the third seed at the ATP 500 tournament, which arrives in the schedule immediately after the Italian Open.
But he has the unenviable task of playing Francisco Cerundolo in his opening match, which certainly won’t be an easy test.
After that, he could take on either Alejandro Davidovich Fokina or Corentin Moutet in the round of 16 in Germany.
His potential quarterfinal opponent Joao Fonseca has withdrawn from the event, but De Minaur could still face Luciano Darderi.
American duo Tommy Paul and Ben Shelton then represent possible semifinal ties, while the Australian could meet one of Felix Auger-Aliassime, Frances Tiafoe or Jakub Mensik in the Hamburg final.
It’s a really challenging run for De Minaur, who needs to start winning on clay if he wants to have any chance of a lengthy run at Roland Garros.
Working in his favour this week, there is no Jannik Sinner or Carlos Alcaraz at the event, while he has replaced Alexander Zverev in the draw following the German’s withdrawal.
Who is the better player – Nick Kyrgios or Alex de Minaur?
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Stefanos Tsitsipas won’t be happy with his potential route to the Geneva final
Roland Garros returns to the calendar later this month, but there is another ATP event scheduled before the Grand Slam.
Taking place during the same time as the Hamburg Open, the ATP 250 Geneva will welcome several top players to Switzerland.
One of those players is Stefanos Tsitsipas, who like De Minaur in Germany has a very tricky potential route to the final.
He will start his tournament against Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, with Learner Tien awaiting the winner of that clash.
Tsitsipas could then meet his fellow wildcard and home favorite Stan Wawrinka in the quarterfinals, or indeed Sebastian Baez or Alex Michelsen.
After that, the Greek ace faces a possible Geneva semifinal against Alexander Bublik or Arthur Rinderknech.
And should Tsitsipas go all the way to the final, Casper Ruud, Jaume Munar, Cameron Norrie and top seed Taylor Fritz could await.
It’s also been a testing season for the former world number three, who has fallen all the way down to 75th in the ATP rankings because of his form.
Of course, Tsitsipas and De Minaur will need to beat the best to clinch further career success, but perhaps now is more about simply winning matches and building momentum towards another Grand Slam.
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