Jan-Lennard Struff (7) meets Laslo Djere in the first round of the 2021 Hamburg Open on Tuesday, July 13th, 2021.
Will Laslo Djere come out here and get back to his best tennis on a surface which he prefers playing on after the grass court season, or will Jan-Lennard Struff impress early on in his home country as he aims to impress the fans and go far?
Laslo Djere will be very happy to be back on clay as this is the surface where he can play his best, even if this is mainly in atp 250 tournaments. Laslo is a solid player on his day and he can get some strong rallies going in smaller tournaments and cause some small upsets. Laslo will know that he could have had an easier draw here in Hamburg as he meets the German, Struff, who will be aiming to impress his home fans, but Djere should back himself to at least put up a strong fight as he can always keep things tight against some similar ranked opponents.
Jan-Lennard Struff will not be too happy with his performances on grass this year, only winning 1 match in the last month. However, struff will also be happy with the only win he got, beating Medvedev. Jan-Lennard is a strong player and he has huge assets, such as his serve and forehand. However, he has not really shined much in 2021. Now that we are here in Hamburg in his home country, I am sure Jan-Lennard will want to come out here and impress right from the start to show everyone that he is a German player that should not be underrated.
This is going to be the 3rd meeting between both players, with Struff having won both of their encounters. They are two similarly ranked players nowadays and they will want to find their rhythm on clay after not having played in a clay tournament in over a month. Laslo Djere can keep things tight because of his experience and strong baseline game, but because we are here in Hamburg, Struff is much more motivated to get the win and impress his home crowd along the way.