Good morning, Court Theorists! ☕️
Today’s tennis mood: Concerned but also amused.
Let’s tennis!
-Allen
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🎾 Time for a check-in: Are y’all okay? Fatigued from the Sunshine Double? Not ready for the grueling clay season just yet? Too busy getting ready for your own spring tennis season? I ask because it’s been crickets on social media. And the open rates for The Daily Theory this week have been a touch lower than usual. So it’s time for a Court Theory Coaching Moment: Hydrate! Protein load! And get your sleep! We’ve got a Masters 1000 starting in a couple of days!
🎾 Scraping by: Yesterday was a round of scrappy matches that we so often see in the clay season — many of them were by top American players who barely escaped defeat at the hands of much lower-ranked players. ICYMI…
Jessica Pegula played the longest match of her life (3:10) to defeat Yulia Putintseva 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 in her first match in Charleston.
Peyton Stearns and Ashlyn Krueger played a highly entertaining match, with Stearns walking away the winner, 7-6, 7-5.
Hailey Baptiste lost a late-night heartbreaker, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, to Renata Zarazua after having complete control of the match — and nearly made a miraculous comeback at the end.
Tommy Paul barely escaped Adolfo Daniel Vallejo, the 21-year-old from Paraguay, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.
Ben Shelton needed a pair of tiebreaks to defeat Zhizhen Zhang, 7-6, 7-6.
In Bucharest, qualifier Alex Molcan walloped top seed Gabriel Diallo, 6-2, 6-2.
🎾 Confirmed: Last week in The Daily Theory, I called out that Iga Swiatek was set to announce a new coach in Francisco Roig, the former coach of Rafa Nadal — a move that I noted made much more sense than any of the recent coach-player pairings. Now we have proof, as well as evidence of Iga training with Roig at the Rafa Nadal Academy. She spelled all of it out in a lengthy interview with Sport.pl, as well as her decision to part ways with Wim Fissette. She also had a strong clapback for the naysayers — especially those who have something to say about her psychologist, Daria Abramowicz. (🙋🏻♂️)
What she said: “I decide who I work with. Most of the negative things I see are false information or completely made-up stories. People don't know how it works. It's me who makes the decisions. I'm surrounded by experienced people — my management team, my fitness coach Maciek Ryszczuk, and Daria. Before, they credited her with part of my success. Now that the results aren't as good, they hold her responsible. But I trust my own judgment.”
And: “Sometimes you can see me as an emotional person, but I really don’t make decisions impulsively. I’m quite rational. I like to give myself time to make decisions. Besides, I don’t make many changes within the team. I think that’s a very good approach. I like to give the team the opportunity to ‘reset’ and start working a little differently.”
🎾 One to watch: Peyton Stearns vs. McCartney Kessler (3rd round - WTA 500 - Charleston): Two American college ballers facing off? Yes, please. Marvel at the Stearns forehand doing the heavy lifting for much of this match, while the Kessler problem-solving brain goes to work.
The record: This will be the first time Peyton Stearns and McCartney Kessler will face each other.
On the line: For Stearns, this is about trying to get back on track after winning Austin but then having a disappointing Sunshine Double, going 1-2. Meanwhile, Kessler is looking to book some more wins after an erratic start to 2026 (thanks, in part, to some unlucky draws).
🎾 🏆 🎤 YOUR CALL
(Yesterday’s poll results: 60% of you called for Alycia Parks to defeat Iva Jovic. Jovic won 6-3, 6-2.)
And that’s game.
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Matches we’re monitoring today:
Charleston - WTA 500 (Clay)
Jessica Pegula vs. Elisabetta Cocciaretto (3rd rd)
Madison Keys vs. Anna Bondar (3rd rd)
Iva Jovic vs. Sofia Kenin (3rd rd)
Paula Badosa vs. Anna Kalinskaya (3rd rd)
Leylah Fernandez vs. Diana Shnaider (3rd rd)
Bogota - WTA 250 (Clay)
Guiomar Maristany vs. Emiliana Arango (2nd rd)
Varvara Lepchenko vs. Jessica Bouzas Maneiro (2nd rd)
Houston - ATP 250 (Clay)
Learner Tien vs. Nishesh Basavareddy (2nd rd)
Rinky Hijikata vs. Frances Tiafoe (2nd rd)
Alex Michelsen vs. Alexei Popyrin (2nd rd)
Marrakech - ATP 250 (Clay)
Vit Kopriva vs. Alexandre Muller (2nd rd)
Rafael Jodar vs. Tomas Machac (2nd rd)
Ignacio Buse vs Camilo Ugo Carabelli (2nd rd)
Luca van Assche vs. Tallon Griekspoor (2nd rd)
Bucharest - ATP 250 (Clay)
Daniel Altmaier vs. Dino Prizmic (2nd rd)
Sebastian Baez vs. Titouan Droguet (2nd rd)
📺 Learn how to watch today’s action over at Tennis Watchers.
💬 For real-time match commentary and conversation, follow Court Theory on Bluesky.
Iva Jovic has found quite a mentor in Novak Djokovic.
Tommy Paul and Ben Shelton found that coming into the net would get them out of hot water on the red clay of Houston.
Perhaps players of the same age aren’t as afraid to face Alcaraz and Sinner…
Is Andy Murray working his way toward Shark Tank?
