Oz: Can we stop calling him “unheralded” now?

 

Sod’s out.

 

He didn’t play well.

 

 

Dolgo’s a HUGE talent explosion just waiting to happen.

 

After dropping the first set, he cruelly exposed Sods poor movement, who was already suffering a blistered toe.

 

His movement, on the other hand, is CGI-perfect.

 

He can slice, junk-ball, volley, take the ball early, serve BIG, camp out well-inside the baseline, and crack a winner, it seems, at will from pretty much anywhere he wants.

 

And he’s brash enough and feisty enough not to give a sh*t that he’s wearing an Alice band whilst doing so.

 

A breakthrough was never really ever in the IF category but WHEN.

 

These are the facts as I see them.

 

 

Normally this would prove hugely upsetting for me – especially considering how well Sod was playing coming into this.

 

This year, I’m supporting Muzz. I feel no conflict about this.

 

Sod will have plenty of other opportunities. He plays equally well on all surfaces and, in case you missed it, is here to stay.

 

Muzz, on the other hand, comes to life on hard courts. I actually think he’s better on grass than he thinks he is, but he’s clearly convinced himself of his hard court prowess sufficiently enough to likely make it a self-fulfilling prophecy.

 

All of which means this will be one of his two best chances this year of doing something that can no longer go on being “only a matter of time”.

 

I still maintain Dolgo resembles the lovechild that Lleyton Hewitt and Martina Hingis never had (though no one seems to want to back me up on this).

 

And I guarantee I’ll be sounding a lot less complacent if he picks off both Sod and Muzz in succession.

 

(Pics: AFP, AP)