Will qualifier Marterer make it to Round 2 again?

For many it is the most important tennis tournament of the year, but in any case it is the most traditional Grand Slam in the ATP and WTA calendar. On Monday, the Wimbledon Championships 2023 will finally get underway.

In the English capital, the yellow felt balls will fly over the grass, which is still green at the beginning and later becomes increasingly brown. After the cancellation of the in-form Jan-Lennard Struff, Alexander Zverev is of course the biggest German hope. A total of six men from the Federal Republic of Germany will be competing.

One of them is 28-year-old Maxi Marterer from Nuremberg, who had to take the hard way through the qualifying rounds, where he won three matches and now wants to make it to the second round of Wimbledon, just like last year. Before Marterer’s first-round duel against Gojo, the odds on the German are higher, but we still refuse to put him in the role of the underdog.

This is partly due to the fact that Marterer has drawn an absolutely feasible opening draw in the form of the Croatian giant Borna Gojo. The three-year younger service monster has never won a main round match at the third Grand Slam of the year in his career. The two are also separated by relatively few places in the world rankings.

Incidentally, it can already be predicted before the Marterer vs. Gojo encounter that the winner of this match in the second round against Felix Auger-Aliassime will in all probability need a cream day to seriously dream of round three.

Maximilian Marterer – statistics & current form

It has been five years since Maxi Marterer had his best world ranking. In August 2018, the then 23-year-old belonged to the top 50 on the ATP and was considered a great hope for the future in German tennis. However, the Nuremberg-born player could never really live up to the high expectations. Every now and then, his potential flashed, but injuries also prevented him from making the big breakthrough.

The tennis year 2023 has been bad for the left-hander so far. The balanced record of 16 wins and 16 losses should not hide the fact that Marterer achieved most of his victories either in smaller Challenger tournaments or in early qualifying rounds at ATP level. At both previous Grand Slams, however, the opening hurdle in the qualifying rounds was already too much for Marterer.

Marterer loves Wimbledon

It is all the more surprising that the Franconian, who has now dropped to position 169 in the rankings, has now made it into the main draw at Wimbledon. Maxi defeated Luciano Darderi, Gauthier Onclin and Fabian Maroszan one after the other. Especially the emotional five-set win against the Hungarian Maroszan, who at least drew attention to himself this year with a Masters win against Carlos Alcaraz on clay, probably gave the German a lot of self-confidence.

In general, it should be mentioned that Marterer is a very good grass court player. Already last year, the 28-year-old reached the second round in London as a qualifier, in 2013 he once even reached the semi-finals of the junior edition of the most important grass court tournament in the world.

Because he has a total of seven wins and only two losses on this unfamiliar surface in 2022 and 2023, we can well imagine that the odds on the strong server from Nuremberg will come true between Marterer and Gojo. Besides his good first service, Maxi can also count a good volley and very thin bouncing baseline shots among his repertoire. All weapons that definitely help on grass!

Borna Gojo – Statistics & current form

Borna Gojo has also mostly flown under the radar of the tennis elite in his career so far. Now 25 years old, the Croatian has still not managed to break into the top 100. At the moment, he is ranked 111, which means that he is automatically in the main draw of Wimbledon and could save himself the hard qualification.

What seems to be an advantage at first sight could also turn out to be a disadvantage, because while Maxi Marterer has already experienced the special conditions at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, the tall south-eastern European might have to struggle with starting difficulties. As a result, one of our preferred approaches between Marterer and Gojo is to predict that the German will win the first set

Gojo has never won a match at Wimbledon

The fact that Borna Gojo should not be underestimated despite the fact that he is in the main draw at Wimbledon for the first time, having failed at the opening hurdle of qualifying on each of his first two trips to London, has to do with the fact that his game is almost perfect on grass.

The 1.96-metre tall right-hander has a very good first serve, can accelerate the ball to well over 220 km/h and, in classic “old-school” style, likes to go to the net afterwards to shorten the points. With this style of play, which is often very frustrating for the opponent, Gojo fought his way into the first round of the grass court tournament in Stuttgart this season.

Most recently, however, he lost in Halle (vs. Daniel Altmaier) and in Eastbourne in the qualifiers. Both times, by the way, he lost in two sets. In both cases Gojo lost a tiebreak.

Maximilian Marterer – Borna Gojo Direct comparison / H2H-balance

The paths of Maxi Marterer and Borna Gojo have never crossed on tour before. On Monday, the first direct duel between these two professionals will take place. The German at least has the experience advantage on his side. The Nuremberg player, who is three years older, also has a clear lead in terms of prize money won so far.

Maximilian Marterer – Borna Gojo Tip

Six German men’s tennis players are competing in the Wimbledon Championships in London, which start on Monday. For qualifier Maxi Marterer, it’s against Croatian giant Borna Gojo, who has never been in the top 100 in his career and made it into the main draw at the grass court Grand Slam in the English capital for the first time ever.

The fact that Marterer is even being treated as an outsider against Gojo according to the betting odds is therefore most likely due to the fact that the 25-year-old Croatian has a lot of what it takes to be successful on grass. However, the same applies to the Nuremberg player, who also has a good serve, a smart touch at the net and can apply pressure from the baseline.
The German also has three (!) successful qualifying matches behind him, once reached the Wimbledon semi-finals as a junior in 2013 and was a qualifier in the second round as early as 2022. The plus in experience and playing practice ultimately leads us to bet on the success of the German in the duel Marterer vs Gojo. As a bet, we choose five out of a possible ten units.