Not many people are aware of it, but there might not be a single player on either tour that is playing as well as Tallon Griekspoor right now. The world No. 62 enters Wednesday’s second-round match-up at the Australian Open with 21st-ranked Pablo Carreno-Busta on a ridiculous 29-match winning streak.
When looking at Griekspoor’s opponents throughout the course of this impressive stretch, there’s undoubtedly some lackluster names. The 25-year-old did, however, pick up two quality wins in Melbourne earlier this month, over Dominik Koepfer and Alexei Popyrin. A foot injury then forced him to withdraw from the tournament—his next opponent would have been Rafael Nadal. But ready to play in Melbourne again on Monday, Griekspoor dismantled world No. 32 Fabio Fognini on Monday, as he cruised to a 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 win in under two hours. Fognini clearly isn’t the player he once was, but it was huge to see that the high stakes of playing in a major didn’t shake Griekspoor’s confidence.