👋 Welcome back to The Daily Theory, our morning rundown to help you stay on top of your favorite sport. I’m Allen McDuffee, your guide to all things tennis.

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Let’s tennis!

Three Points

🎾 Laver Cup launches: Laver Cup, the brainchild of Roger Federer, kicks off in San Francisco today.

  • Team Europe: Carlos Alcaraz, Flavio Cobolli, Jakub Mensik, Holger Rune, Casper Ruud, Alexander Zverev, Tomas Machac (Alternate), Yannik Noah (Captain), Tim Henman (Vice Captain)
  • Team World: Francisco Cerundolo, Alex de Minaur, Joao Fonseca, Taylor Fritz, Alex Michelsen, Reilly Opelka, Jenson Brooksby (Alternate), Andre Agassi (Captain), Pat Rafter (Vice Captain)
  • Today’s schedule: Casper Ruud vs. Reilly Opelka, Jakub Mensik vs. Alex Michelsen, Flavio Cobolli vs. Joao Fonseca, Alcaraz/Mensik vs. Fritz/Michelsen. In the U.S., Tennis Channel has exclusive coverage. Learn how to watch today’s action around the globe.

🎾 A Fedal tour?: In an appearance on CNBC on Thursday, Roger Federer teased the idea of a post-retirement tour between him and Rafa Nadal, noting that nothing was in the works as of yet.

  • What he said: “Yeah, why not? I love Rafa,” Federer said during an appearance on CNBC. “I’ve been playing a lot, so I’m trying to keep in good shape. I know that Rafa is also totally open to maybe play some tennis. It sounds terrible ‘Seniors Tennis’ to us, but maybe we can create a tour, like a ‘Fedal’ tour, or something like that. It’d be cool.”
  • Here’s why not: This summer, Nadal noted that in the several months since his retirement, he hadn’t picked up a racket and had no plans to do so because his body was finally beginning to heal after decades of the grind he put it through.
  • But!: Nadal does feel a sense of duty toward the sport, so maybe there’s a chance. Magic 8 Ball says: Ask again later.

🎾 A how many Kings Slam?: Last year, during the inaugural 6 Kings Slam in Saudi Arabia, people chuckled when organizers needed Holger Rune to fill the final slot among major titleholders Carlos Alcaraz, Novak Djokovic, Daniil Medvedev, Rafa Nadal, and Jannik Sinner. On Thursday, organizers in Riyadh named the final line-up: Carlos Alcaraz, Novak Djokovic, Taylor Fritz, Jannik Sinner, Stefanos Tsitsipas, and Alexander Zverev. That’s three major titleholders and three who have gotten to a final and fallen short — sometimes more than once.

  • Oops: So much for the original vision of having those who won slams face off in one tournament. Perhaps organizers didn’t think through that no matter how much money they spent ($1.5 million just for showing up), they couldn’t fill the draw with Grand Slam event winners because there just aren’t that many to go around.