👋 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.
Programming note: I’m a touch under the weather at the moment, so today’s edition is a bit abbreviated. Send soup.
Let’s tennis!
What They Said
Obviously, it would be stupid to expect a lot because I’m not able to play my game right now...For sure, I’m doing something wrong, so I need to just regroup and change some stuff. I heard some ideas from the team, so I’ll just try to do that in next weeks.
-Iga Swiatek on her prospects for defending her title at Roland-Garros after losing to Danielle Collins.
Watch This!
🔥 Matteo Berrettini vs. Casper Ruud (3rd round (ATP 1000 - Rome): Watch this one for some truly stunning clay court tennis between two players who know each other well. Expect some satisfying Italian drama to unfold as the crowd tries to help their fellow countryman take on one of the best clay courters who has found his footing again. Who wins? Current form suggests Ruud. But that’s not the only factor here.
- The record: Casper Ruud narrowly leads the head-to-head record over Matteo Berrettini, 4-3. Berrettini has the most recent win at United Cup, but that was on the hard courts of Australia.
- On the line: Casper Ruud is keen to show that his win in Madrid was no fluke as he heads into Roland-Garros. If he can hold steady against Berrettini on his home turf, he has a clear path to the quarterfinals, where he would potentially meet Jannik Sinner. Meanwhile, Berrettini wants to put up a win in front of his home crowd and get a few more matches under his belt going into Roland-Garros — he’s had relatively few this clay season.
On The Radar
More tennis matches we’re monitoring today:
Rome - WTA 1000 (Clay)
- Peyton Stearns vs. Naomi Osaka (4th round)
- Jasmine Paolini vs. Jelena Ostapenko (4th round)
- Diana Shnaider vs. Elise Mertens (4th round)
- Clara Tauson vs. Mirra Andreeva (4th round)
- Coco Gauff vs. Emma Raducanu (4th round)
- Bianca Andreescu vs. Qinwen Zheng (4th round)
- Elina Svitolina vs. Danielle Collins (4th round)
Rome - ATP 1000 (Clay)
- Jakub Mensik vs. Fabian Marozsan (3rd round)
- Jaume Munar vs. Sebastian Korda (3rd round)
- Tommy Paul vs. Tomas Machac (3rd round)
- Marcos Giron vs. Hubert Hurkacz (3rd round)
📺 Learn how to watch today’s action over at Tennis Watchers.
Read, Watch, Listen
- Emil Ruusuvuori goes into detail about his panic attacks and mental health struggles as he tries to explain his absences.
- Here’s how Coco Gauff and Alexandra Eala came to play doubles together in Rome.
- Marcos Giron is having quite a time at the Italian Open at this stage of his career.
- At The Telegraph, Simon Briggs asks whether or not Jack Draper’s recent displays of anger is a sign that his rapid rise to the top five has come at a cost.
- As we pointed out last week, Pope Leo is a tennis player — and now he has his very own court tucked away at the Vatican.
- In doubles, the Lorenzos took on the Berrettini brothers for an all-Italian match-up in Rome.
- ICYMI: Novak Djokovic is playing in Geneva next week in an attempt to get some wins — and, therefore, matches — under his belt.
- Danielle Collins channels her inner Elena Dementieva in her win over Iga Swiatek.
- And Emma Raducanu shares her go-to pasta dish in Rome.
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