Good morning, Court Theorists! ☕️☀️🍁
Today’s tennis mood: Endeared toward Learner Tien and happy for Caroline Garcia.
Let’s tennis!
-Allen
🎾 On tap: It’s on to the third round in Toronto and Montreal, and there are some particularly great match-ups during prime time for all of you whose bosses are looking over your shoulder during the workday.
Rafael Jodar vs. Lorenzo Musetti and Frances Tiafoe vs. Arthur Rinderknech in the night session is quite a ticket in Montreal.
Meanwhile, doubles matches begin today in both cities. Venus Williams and Alex Eala are in action today. On Center Court. In prime time. Take that, doubles naysayers. And the Fernandez sisters are back at it this year, too.
🎾 The top falls out: It’s been challenging for the top talent in Montreal, even after Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, and Novak Djokovic withdrew before the tournament began. Hometown favorite Felix Auger-Aliassime withdrew before a ball was even struck. Now, in their first matches, Alexander Zverev, Daniil Medvedev, Taylor Fritz, Flavio Cobolli, Andrey Rublev, and eight other seeds are out. Somebody unexpected has a real shot at taking home a 1000 title this week.
🎾 Draper update: While I was watching Arthur Rinderknech in a three-set battle against Miomir Kecmanovic, I noticed something in the distance on the court that is the toughest to see on the grounds: Jack Draper practicing. Just one day after he was fighting back tears during a changeover during his loss to Terence Atmane, Draper was back on the practice court for about an hour, hitting tons of forehands, trying to get the sting back into that shot. If that isn’t determination, I don’t know what is.
🎾 Quick note on Tallon: After Tallon Griekspoor took down top seed Alexander Zverev here in Montreal, I asked him, based on the battles they’ve had, what he likes so much about this particular match-up. I could tell he was protecting the secret sauce a bit, but he replied, in part, “I feel like I have the way to play, but at the same time, he has beaten me — I think I’m still 9-3 down in the head-to-head. It definitely should have been 8-4, 7-5, or even 6-6. I let slip a couple very ugly ones. But that’s his class and how good he is.” I’ll have more on his answers to me in a separate piece soon.
🎾 One to watch: Madison Keys vs. Marta Kostyuk (3rd round - WTA 1000 - Toronto): Watch this one for the ball striking between two clean hitters. Expect much scrappiness from Kostyuk to force Keys to hit one more ball and draw some errors. This match could be decided by what kind of serving day Keys has.
The record: Madison Keys leads the head-to-head record over Marta Kostyuk 2-0. However, both of those meetings were on grass at Wimbledon in 2023 and 2024.
On the line: In terms of points, both players have quarterfinalist points to defend. More importantly, Kostyuk, who has had a winning spring and summer, wants to keep that feeling going into the U.S. Open. Meanwhile, Keys is looking for stable ground after an erratic year and a first-round loss in Washington last week.
🎾 🏆 🎤 YOUR CALL
(Yesterday’s poll results: 66% of you called on Gael Monfils to defeat Learner Tien. Tien won 6-3, 0-6, 6-3.)
And that’s game.
