Good morning, Court Theorists! ☕️
Today’s tennis mood: Amused + anxiously awaiting.
Let’s tennis!
-Allen
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🎾 ICYMI: With multiple time zones, the Olympics, and the Super Bowl, you may have missed how last week’s tournaments concluded. Here’s how that action shook out:
WTA 500 Abu Dhabi: Sara Bejlek def. Ekaterina Alexandrova 7-6, 6-1
WTA 250 Ostrava: Katie Boulter def. Tamara Korpatsch 5-7, 6-2, 6-1
WTA 250 Cluj-Napoca: Sorana Cirstea def. Emma Raducanu 6-0, 6-2
ATP 250 Montpellier: Felix Auger-Aliassime def. Adrian Mannarino 6-3, 7-6
🎾 Double fault on break point: Brad Gilbert made his thoughts known on Bad Bunny performing at the Super Bowl a couple of days ago. He then doubled down during the halftime show. And now he’s trying to make nice. As a public figure, sometimes it’s worth reserving such vocal public judgment on things you don’t understand. Because many times, somebody’s there to explain it to you.
🎾 One to watch: Michael Zheng vs. Sebastian Korda (1st round - ATP 500 - Dallas): It’s a rematch! These two just played an epic match at the Australian Open in which Zheng went up two sets to love before winning in five. Korda might have a slight advantage this time, given the indoor scenario. But you would have thought the 100+ spots separating them in the rankings was an advantage, too. Either way, expect an entertaining match.
The record: Michael Zheng leads the head-to-head record over Sebastian Korda 1-0.
On the line: There’s little doubt that Korda, ranked 100 spots above Zheng, believes he has a score to settle. And, to be sure, the pressure is on him to perform. For Zheng, this is about proving his 7-2 record on the year isn’t a fluke.
🎾 🏆 🎤 YOUR CALL
And that’s game.
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Matches we’re monitoring today:
Qatar - WTA 1000 (Hard)
Alexandra Eala vs. Tereza Valentova (1st rd)
Maria Sakkari vs. Zeynep Sonmez (1st rd)
Amanda Anisimova vs. Karolina Pliskova (1st rd)
Qinwen Zheng vs. Sofia Kenin (1st rd)
Emma Navarro vs. Tatjana Maria (1st rd)
Emma Raducanu vs. Camila Osorio (1st rd)
Janice Tjen vs. Beatriz Haddad Maia (1st rd)
Dallas - ATP 500 (Hard)
Brandon Nakashima vs. Mattia Bellucci (1st rd)
Zachary Svajda vs. Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (1st rd)
Terence Atmane vs. Frances Tiafoe (1st rd)
Rotterdam - ATP 500 (Hard)
Daniil Medvedev vs. Ugo Humbert (1st rd)
Nikolai Budkov Kjaer vs. Jaume Munar (1st rd)
Player vs. Player (Round)
Player vs. Player (Round)
Buenos Aires - ATP 250 (Hard)
Damir Dzhumur vs. Hugo Dellien (1st rd)
Andrea Pellegrino vs. Tomas Martin Etcheverry (1st rd)
📺 Learn how to watch today’s action over at Tennis Watchers.
💬 For real-time match commentary and conversation, follow Court Theory on Bluesky.
Meet Lilli Tagger, the Austrian teen who insisted on switching to a one-hander when she was 12 years old.
We here at Court Theory HQ were not joking about the return of 41-year-old Vera Zvonareva.
Novak Djokovic and Ilia Malinin blew each other’s minds.
Serena Williams made back-to-back (albeit very different) Super Bowl appearances.
You’ve got to see Marin Cilic and Terence Atmane doing Texas barbecue.
Victoria Mboko is still holding out hope she’ll face Serena Williams one day.
Michael Mmoh is approaching this comeback differently than the previous ones.
