Indoor Carpet in Ismaning
Tournaments played on carpet courts are slowly becoming extinct on the tennis tours these days. The Challenger in Ismaning, Germany is one of the few events that is still being played on the unique surface. Short rallies are a characteristic of indoor courts and even more so of carpet courts. The ball bounce is really low and doesn't give players much time to set up their shots. Adding the indoor element with lack of wind and thin air, players can accelerate their shots much easier and more accurate, which leads to the level of play being really quick. In today's first round match between German Benjamin Hassan and Andrea Arnaboldi from Italy, we have two players whose abilities on these courts are quite different.
Hassan ready for indoor season!
Benjamin Hassan's last match was one I previewed on here as well. Coming off an intense Davis Cup weekend, he faced Luca Vanni and lost 4-6 1-6, meaning we also lost our over bet. After that, he took a break to get ready for the late season indoor Challenger events played in Germany. After Ismaning, there will be tournaments held in Hamburg and Eckental.
The German with Lebanese roots is winning 60% of his matches played indoors and 65% played on carpet. Although he was facing worse opponents than Arnaboldi throughout his career, it's obvious that he is capable on the fast indoor surface. Andrea Arnaboldi on the contrary is a clay courter who likes prolonged rallies as he hits his shots with a lot of topspin and isn't really able to generate much pace off his groundstrokes. His slice on the backhand is a shot that can be dangerous indoors, but Hassan's repertoire contains that shot as well.
Arnaboldi ready for indoor season?
Over the course of his career, the Italian has played more than 800 matches on clay, making this his favorite surface by some distance. He only played 30 matches on carpet and lost 18 of them. He's also winning less than 50% of his matches on indoor hard courts, so the surface advantage is definitely on Hassan's side.
Arnaboldi also retired in his last match in Florence, Italy, trailing Filip Horansky 1-6 0-2. Although I'm not sure whether he was seriously injured, I do think that Hassan is much better prepared for the indoor season. He will also get some crowd support and therefore, I'm betting him to win the match at 1.92 odds.
