👋 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!

Five Points

🎾 Medvedev madness: Daniil Medvedev helped the first-ever Sunday kickoff at the U.S. Open with a massive bang — but for all the wrong reasons. At 6-3, 7-5, 5-4, France’s Benjamin Bonzi was up match point on Medvedev when he missed a first serve. Inexplicably, a photographer charged onto the court, perhaps thinking the match was over. That interruption resulted in chair umpire Greg Allensworth ruling a first serve for Bonzi. And that’s where things went off the rails.

  • Next: Medvedev waged a campaign, getting directly in the camera, saying that Allensworth “wanted to leave” because he gets “paid by the match, not by the hour.” Then he shouted, “Reilly Opelka was right!,” referring to comments Opelka made earlier this year about Allensworth being “the worst ref on the tour.”
  • And then: Medvedev egged on the crowd, which had collectively determined Medvedev had been wronged, inciting them to boo. It took six minutes before Bonzi could serve and continue the match. He was rattled, dropping that set and the next one before eventually winning the match in five sets.
  • Finally: Once it was over and after sitting on his bench for a handful of minutes, Medvedev went nuts on his racket, obliterating it.
  • The numbers: Daniil Medvedev, hard court specialist, went 3-4 in the U.S. Open series. That’s also three first-round exits in a row at majors for Medvedev (two in a row at the hands of Bonzi). And he’s won only one match at majors for the whole year.
  • The take: This behavior of self-admitted gamesmanship and poor sportsmanship from Daniil Medvedev is as tired as his game is. He’s a (nearly) 30-year-old man with children, not a contrarian upstart. Grow up.

🎾 Catch-up time: Were you off enjoying the weekend, and now you’re trying to get yourself situated for this year’s U.S. Open? We’ve got you covered! Check out the Court Theory guide to the U.S. Open, filled with all the big questions and fine details you need to enjoy this year’s tournament.

🎾 She’s back: Victoria Mboko is back in action first thing today on Louis Armstrong in one of our “unfortunate first rounds” against Barbora Krejcikova. It will be interesting to see what Mboko brings to the court after she pulled out of Cincinnati following her brilliant run in Montreal. It’s not only the first time she’s seeded at a major, it’s also the first time she’s straight into the main draw of a slam event.

🎾 Time for a change: After Alex Eala came back from being down 5-1 in the third set to take the win over Clara Tauson on Sunday, she pointed out exactly how much being Filipina mattered. “To be Filipino is something I take so much pride in,” Eala said after the match. “And you know, I don’t have a home tournament, so to be able to have this community here at the US Open, I’m so grateful that they made me feel like I’m home.” If that whole scene wasn’t a message to the WTA to get a tournament in the Philippines asap, I don’t know what is.

🎾 Your attention, please: Here are a few notes to be aware of while you’re catching today’s action..

  • Venus Williams is playing against Karolina Muchova in tonight’s prime time match on Arthur Ashe Stadium.
  • Petra Kvitova will play her final professional tennis match today if she can’t take down Diane Parry.
  • Caroline Garcia could be in the same boat when she faces Kamilla Rakhimova.
  • We here at Court Theory HQ are placing an upset alert on the Holger Rune vs. Botic van de Zandschulp match. That is, if the Dutchman has recovered enough from his run to the final in Winston-Salem, where he took down three seeds.
  • There are several young and up-and-coming Americans to watch today, including: Iva Jovic, Clervie Ngounoue, Darwin Blanch, Alyssa Ahn, and a bunch more listed below.