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.
