Novak Djokovic accepted a wild card into the 2024 Geneva Open. But who will be his opponent in his first match in Geneva? The former world number one, Andy Murray takes on Yannick Hanfmann in the R32 of the Gonet Geneva Open. The winner of this match will face Novak Djokovic in the R16. This tournament is a warmup event for the French Open. Will there be any lack of competitiveness?

A big no, because every player wants to be in a winning run ahead of such a mega event like the Roland Garros. Earlier this year in Miami, Andy Murray damaged multiple ligaments in his left ankle and he recently returned to action at the Challenger Bordeaux in France. He avoided the surgery successfully but can he avoid the challenge of his German opponent successfully in his next match?

Andy Murray vs Yannick Hanfmann: Preview

The three-time Grand Slam hasn’t looked the same, since having gone through a hip surgery in 2018. Even this, he had struggled a bit to make his presence felt in his previous tournaments. But at the Miami Open, he tasted his biggest win in ten months by defeating the number 29, Tomas Martin Etcheverry in the second round by two sets. In his previous match at the R16 of the Challenger Bordeaux, Murray faced France’s Gregoire Barrere. He was defeated by the Frenchman by 4-6,2-6 in that match.

Andy Murray failed to hit even a single ace in the entire match and committed one double fault. His first-serve win percentage was around 50% and his second-serve win percentage was just about 35%. Murray managed to successfully convert three out of his six breakpoints against Hanfmann. Looking at his overall stats for this year, Andy Murray has hit 86 aces and committed 22 double faults in the entire season so far. Andy Murray’s biggest weapon is his serve. He has won 83% of his service games and just 15% of his return games this season.

Now, shifting our focus to his German opponent, Yannick Hanfmann too had a pretty ordinary season this year. However, he reached the QF of the 2024 Cordoba Open. He faced America’s J.J. Wolf in his previous match at the Challenger Turin in Italy. Wolf defeated Hanfmann by 6-3,6-2 in that R16 match. Yannick Hanfmann could only manage to hit two aces against the American but had committed a similar number of double faults in the match.

His first serve win percentage was 60% while it dropped to 52% on the second serve. Hanfmann failed to convert five of his breakpoints in that match. Just like his performance this year, the German’s stats are also pretty much ordinary in this season so far. Yannick Hanfmann has hit 87 aces and committed 47 double faults this year. He has won 74% of his service games compared to just 19% of his return games. But who do you think has the edge in the H2H scoreline?

Murray vs Hanfmann: Head-to-Head

It’s time for the number 75 versus the number 87 in Geneva! There isn’t any vast difference between these two players in the rankings. They had met each other only once on the tour previously. It was at the 2023 Swiss Indoors and in that match, Andy Murray defeated Yannick Hanfmann by 7-5,6-4. Murray displayed a dominating brand of tennis in that match.

He hit seven aces and committed just a single double fault in the entire match. Yannick Hanfmann could only manage to hit a single ace but he didn’t commit any double fault. Murray’s first serve win percentage was around 67% and it was dropped to 55% on the second serve. While Hanfmann won 60% of his first serve and just 47% of his second serve. The British tennis star converted four out of six breakpoints in that match but the German could only manage to convert two out of his eight breakpoints.

Prediction: Hanfmann to win this contest

Andy Murray’s fitness levels will be the biggest concern ahead of this enticing contest. Although he’s entering this tournament after playing two matches in his previous tournaments, there will still be slight concern knowing the injury he got in Miami a couple of months ago. He’s now 37 and has already hinted that he’ll probably retire after this summer. Is Andy Murray rushing a bit? Well, he surely has the potential to disrupt any equations even in 2024. This year he has a win-loss record of 5-9, but can he improve it further in Geneva?

Yannick Hanfmann may be slightly behind in the ranking but he has a win-loss record of 9-14. This also indicates he has played more matches than Murray this season. Murray will try to showcase his defensive baseline game with strong and accurate groundstrokes. He is quite capable of shifting quickly from defense to offense. Andy Murray has one of the best two-handed backhands on the men’s tour and he’s a master of a tactician.

While Yannick Hanfmann is also an intelligent player with a lot of crafty shots in his bag. He loves to get involved in longer rallies and test the endurance of his opponent. It will be tough for Andy Murray to counterpunch this style of tennis on the clay courts, especially after coming back from such a serious injury. So, Hanfamnn will have the edge in this exciting contest.