The Jódar-Fils will go through a special key

Alert for a great match today in the M1000 in Montreal, with Rafa Jódar and Arthur Fils fighting for a spot in the tournament semifinals, in a duel that smells like a anticipated final. The two of them, along with Mensik and Shelton in the upper part of the draw, are the main favorites to win a tournament that has remained open due to the presence of players all born in this new century. The Fils-Jódar match looks promising since both, in a way, offer a similar style of tennis where there are a couple of key aspects to analyze.

In his last two matches, Rafa has shown significant improvement in various areas such as physical fitness, serving, and managing the transition from defense to attack, as over the course of the tournaments, the Spaniard has come to understand that not everything has to always go forward, and that there are times when it is beneficial to stay back and continue building the point to find the moment to attack again.

Precisely there lies the great key to this duel between Fils and Jódar, as the French player has a similar approach in his quest for victory. Clearly, through different strengths, but with a similar idea: to attack whenever possible, dominating his rivals, and he does not hesitate to move a couple of meters behind the line to defend himself.

The key to the Fils-Jódar match: The struggle to see who dominates first

It’s obvious that each does it relying on different strengths, as Fils’ forehand is better than Rafa’s, while the Spaniard relies more on his backhand, especially on the parallel. In serving, they may be relatively even, with Jódar moving a bit better from the baseline. Fils will likely try to keep the points in the right-to-right area, while Rafa will look to corner the Frenchman on his backhand side, the weakest part of his game, and then blast the ball with a parallel shot, with the court wide open.

Interestingly, when they faced each other in Washington last week, Jódar ended up hitting his forehand better than the Frenchman, according to Insights, from TDI Data. This is evidence that Rafa has been improving significantly in his forehand area. In fact, in this tournament, he has a score of 7.7 with his forehand, which is a 0.4-point improvement over his average. It is likely that he hasn’t had a better tournament this year with his forehand than in Montreal, and that is where Fils should be particularly cautious.

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On the day they faced each other in Washington, Fils attacked 31% of the time and Jódar 29%. This is a power struggle to see who attacks first and takes the initiative from the opponent. This will be a similar pattern today. The key will be who manages to take the lead in that aspect because it’s not just about who attacks more, but also who does it from a favorable position.

Jódar caused significant damage by returning Fils' second serves very deep, winning 16 of the 29 points the Frenchman put into play. The Spaniard, on his side, won 63% of the second service points, showing that Arthur has work ahead in this regard and that if he wants to dominate Jódar, he has to improve his return game. According to Insights, Fils only reached 5 unreturned serves, which is another area where he needs to improve to grow as a player.

In Washington, it was a match decided by minimal details. Fils did not play poorly and perhaps deserved a third set. We will see what happens on a court that is believed to be a little slower, which might suit Jódar better. The match will be played almost at night, which will make the bounce a bit better, favoring Rafa’s flatter ball, who will be a slight favorite today, but he won’t be able to 
 

This is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, El Jódar-Fils pasará por una clave especial