Upsets are fun, there’s no denying that. We watch tennis all year long, and we generally see the same players winning over and over again. That’s why it’s refreshing when a player like Terence Atmane, the world No. 132, goes to Cincinnati and knocks off players like Flavio Cobolli, Joao Fonseca, Taylor Fritz and Holger Rune. The only problem is that upsets usually lead to lopsided matchups later in tournaments, and that’s exactly what we’re getting when Atmane takes on world No. 1 Jannik Sinner in the semifinals.
Atmane has played some outrageous tennis to get to this point, and the 23-year-old southpaw deserves a ton of credit for that. However, he has served uncharacteristically well in three of the five main-draw matches he has played, making at least 59.0% of his first serves. That’s a jump from the 57.8% first serve percentage he had in 2024, and the 57.7% first serve percentage he has in 2025. It’s concerning because Atmane is probably due for some regression against Sinner, and his only chance of making this a match is by being flawless with the ball on his racquet.