👋 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, reporting from Montreal.

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Let’s tennis!

Three Points

🎾 Injury claims another: Maxime Cressy, the 6’7” French-American player who served and volleyed and chipped and charged his way into our nostalgic hearts, has called time on his career, citing a chronic lower back injury. The 28-year-old reached a career-high ranking of 31 just three years ago, but is now nearly 700 in the world.

  • What he said: “I’ve decided to step away from the tour for the time being to focus on recovering from an ongoing lower back injury and the emotional burden along with it,” Cressy posted on Instagram. “I have dedicated my entire life to becoming the best tennis player I can be, I wished it was to be the best but I know that I have given my absolute best effort and I have the peace of mind with that knowingness.”
  • Noteworthy: The “for the time being” phrase does leave the door open for a return — and at just 28, there is time.

🎾 On the way: In The Daily Theory yesterday, we highlighted the exit of Patrick Mouratoglou from Naomi Osaka’s camp. I told you I would attend her practice session in Montreal to see if she had a new coach with her. The update on the ground was that she had a coach from the Mouratoglou Academy and a hitting partner.

  • Update, update: Simultaneously, Courtney Nguyen reported that Osaka has a new coach on the way to Montreal. Tomasz Wiktorowski, Iga Swiatek’s former coach, will go for a coaching trial with Osaka.
  • Intriguing: For those keeping tabs, Swiatek is currently being coached by Osaka’s former coach, Wim Fissette.

🎾 The Montreal Report: After watching Osaka’s practice, I checked out her match against Ariana Arsenault. She was doing the things you’d expect: launching serves, cranking forehands, and smacking backhands down the line for winners. But here’s a big difference from a year — or even six months — ago: her defensive movement has vastly improved. She’s never going to be a Caroline Wozniacki. But she doesn’t need to be! She just needs to be able to absorb a blow or two before she can shift from defense to offense — something she can do now with that improved movement.

And, that’s game.

What They Said

You can be honest. You can say the rest of the year hasn’t been great.. It’s been pretty shit, to be honest!

-Leylah Fernandez on her season, aside from taking the title in Washington, DC.

On The Radar

More tennis matches we’re monitoring today:

Montreal - WTA 1000 (Hard)

  • Marta Kostyuk vs. Marketa Vondrousova (2nd round)
  • Elena Rybakina vs. Hailey Baptiste (2nd round)
  • Rebecca Marino vs. Emma Navarro (2nd round)
  • Maya Joint vs. Leylah Fernandez (2nd round)
  • Mirra Andreeva vs. Bianca Andreescu (2nd round)
  • Coco Gauff vs. Danielle Collins (2nd round)
  • Sofia Kenin vs. Victoria Mboko (2nd round)
  • Ann Li vs. Anna Kalinskaya (2nd round)
  • Alycia Parks vs. Caty McNally (2nd round)

Toronto - ATP 1000 (Hard)

  • Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard (2nd round)
  • Denis Shapovalov vs. Learner Tien (2nd round)
  • Emilio Nava vs. Ugo Humbert (2nd round)
  • Roman Safiullin vs. Casper Ruud (2nd round)
  • Corentin Moutet vs. Jenson Brooksby (2nd round)
  • Jaume Munar vs. Francisco Cerundolo (2nd round)
  • Tallon Griekspoor vs. Tomas Martin Etcheverry (2nd round)

📺 Learn how to watch today’s action over at Tennis Watchers.

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