Good morning, Court Theorists! ☕️☀️
Today’s tennis mood: French Open relief and also hoping for the best. 😬
Let’s tennis!
-Allen
🎾 The return of Iga: In The Daily Theory yesterday, I called out the Iga Swiatek vs. Naomi Osaka match as the intriguing one to watch. And, it was — just not for the same reasons I anticipated. It was Iga “Queen of Clay” Swiatek out there, and she treated Osaka like a sparring partner, not a worthy opponent. Swiatek sent her back to the locker room in less than 90 minutes and let her have just three games to show for her effort, 6-2, 6-1.
By the numbers: In those 15 games, Swiatek collected 26 winners, which amounted to 24% of the total points.
What she said: “From the beginning till the end I knew what to do, and I did that great,” Swiatek said after the match. “I was pretty confident with my game.” Indeed.
🎾 Roland-Garros wild cards: Tournament organizers at Roland-Garros released the list of wild cards on Monday, putting to rest whether or not some players in their final year on tour would make the draw.
Women’s wild cards: Clara Burel, Ksenia Efremova, Fiona Ferro, Leolia Jeanjean, Emerson Jones, Sarah Rakotomanga, Alice Tubello, and Akasha Urhobo.
Men’s wild cards: Nishesh Basavareddy, Titouan Droguet, Hugo Gaston, Arthur Gea, Moise Kouame, Gael Monfils, Adam Walton, and Stan Wawrinka.
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🎾 One to watch: Coco Gauff vs. Mirra Andreeva (Quarterfinals - WTA 1000 - Rome): Watch this one to see where each of these Roland-Garros contenders is, mentally, in their final warm-up tournament ahead of Paris. Both players have had their ups and downs this clay season, so let’s see what happens when they have to face each other.
The record: Coco Gauff leads the head-to-head record over Mirra Andreeva 4-0.
On the line: Ranking points are not front of mind today. This is all about confidence going into Roland-Garros. Andreeva has the extra consideration of not wanting a 0-5 record against Gauff.
🎾 🏆 🎤 YOUR CALL
(Yesterday’s poll results: You were split 50/50 on Iga Swiatek vs. Naomi Osaka. Swiatek won 6-2, 6-1.)
And that’s game.
