Good morning, Court Theorists! ☕️
Two notable journeys ended on Wednesday: one Cinderella story in Michael Zheng and the only seed to drop in Emma Raducanu. Michael Zheng now has to figure out if he can keep his cash. Plus, the Lorenzos face off.
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Let’s tennis!
-Allen
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🎾 The old college try: Michael Zheng started out his second-round match against Corentin Moutet looking like snagging another win wasn’t so impossible, taking the first set 6-3. But the Columbia University senior quickly found himself with the tables turned on him as Moutet claimed the second, 6-1. By the end, Zheng was limping with an apparent left thigh injury and needed to retire. Still, not a bad showing for a player who had never been in a best-of-five scenario before. Now it’s time to figure out if he can keep the six figures he earned in Melbourne.
🎾 A Raducanu regroup?: Is there another coaching change coming to Emma Raducanu’s camp? After her straight-set second-round loss to Anastasia Potapova on Wednesday, you could read between the lines and recognize similar language in previous years when her coach was about to get the boot.
What she said: “At the end of the day, I just want to hit the ball to the corners, and hard,” Raducanu said in her news conference. “I feel like I’m doing all this variety, and it’s not doing what I want it to do. I need to just work on playing in a way more similar to how I was playing when I was younger.” She added: “I always just changed direction, took the ball early, and went for it. I think I do have the ability to do many things on the court, but I feel like, as I’m learning all those skills, it’s like I need to stick to my guns a bit as well and work on that. For me, it’s pretty simple.”
What it means: “All this variety” that is keeping her from playing her style of tennis, “hit[ting] the ball to the corners, and hard” is the direct result of coaching from Francisco Roig, Rafael Nadal’s former coach, who came on to the Raducanu team right before last year’s U.S. Open.
Noteworthy: What became clear almost instantly is that she had tons of respect for Roig, but that they didn’t see the same tennis world. Trying to change the fundamental player Raducanu is might be a bridge too far.
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🎾 One to watch: Lorenzo Musetti vs. Lorenzo Sonego (2nd round - Melbourne - Australian Open): It’s the battle of the Lorenzos! These two players know each other well, and if Musetti goes out early, this could be the match that will ask the question. Expect the beautiful (and powerful) groundies of Sonego to be met with aggressive counterpunching from Sonego until he has the slightest opening to hit the unexpected winner or come into net.
The record: The head-to-head-record between Lorenzo Musetti and Lorenzo Sonego is tied at one apiece. Sonego won their most recent meeting in the fall in Paris in three sets.
On the line: Aside from pride, points are on the line. That matters more for Sonego, who is defending 400 points from making last year’s quarterfinals.
🎾 🏆 🎤 YOUR CALL
(Yesterday’s poll results: 63.64 of you called for Michael Zheng to take down Corentin Moutet. Moutet won 3-6, 6-1, 6-3, 2-0 ret.)
And that’s game.
