Good morning from Tennis Paradise, Court Theorists! 🌴☀️☕️
Today’s tennis mood: relaxed, slightly jet-lagged + ready!
Let’s tennis!
-Allen
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🎾 Day One: It’s opening day of the BNP Paribas Open, and I’m writing to you from Indian Wells, where I’ll be for the next several days courtesy of our friends from Topnotch Tennis Tours and Grand Slam Tennis Tours. A special shout-out to their team, who helped me get settled in yesterday — and to all the tennis fans in their group whom I met at the welcome dinner last night with special guest speaker Tracy Austin!
On tap: The top seeds might not be in action today, but the quality of matches is through the roof. Catch the rundown of what I’m tracking below.
🎾 On the way: Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev, and a number of other players who were sheltering in place in Dubai are reportedly on their way to Indian Wells, even if they weren’t able to make it in time for mixed doubles on Tuesday night. But that wasn’t the only ordeal for pro tennis players in the Middle East, as an ATP Challenger Tour event continued this week, just a 90-minute drive straight across from Dubai. Finally, common sense prevailed.
🎾 This shit has got to stop: Lucrezia Stefanini, the 27-year-old player from Italy, says she and her family were threatened as she received a message with a photo of a gun before a qualifying match at Indian Wells this week. In a video she posted on Instagram, she offered details of the threat.
What she said: “I received a WhatsApp message in which I was threatened over winning yesterday’s match. They threatened me and my family and named my parents, the place where I was born, and they sent me a photo of a gun," Stefanini said, adding, “I immediately alerted the WTA, which provided me with more security. ... The entire tournament mobilized to make me feel safe.”
🎾 One to watch: Stefanos Tsitsipas vs. Denis Shapovalov (1st rd - ATP 1000 - Indian Wells): Can you have a vintage match-up between two guys still firmly in their twenties? Maybe not, but between the level of play and the competitive drama, these two don’t disappoint when they face off, making it one match we won’t miss today.
The record: Denis Shapovalov leads the head-to-head record over Stefanos Tsitsipas 4-2, and it’s decisively split according to surface. Shapovalov has all the hard court wins, and Tsitsipas claimed the two clay meetings. But on the slow hard courts of Indian Wells, it’s not clear who is favored more.
On the line: Both players have some (but not many) points to defend from last year. For both, this match is about getting some continuity after uneven starts to the year. A first-round loss is not part of the plan for either one.
And that’s game.
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Matches we’re monitoring today:
Indian Wells - WTA 1000 (Hard)
Bianca Andreescu vs. Kamilla Rakhimova (1st rd)
Zeynep Sonmez vs. McCartney Kessler (1st rd)
Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva vs. Caty McNally (1st rd)
Sloane Stephens vs. Camila Osorio (1st rd)
Talia Gibson vs. Ann Li (1st rd)
Himeno Sakatsume vs. Alycia Parks (1st rd)
Jaqueline Cristian vs. Janice Tjen (1st rd)
Ajla Tomljanovic vs. Elena-Gabriela Ruse (1st rd)
Anastasia Potapova vs. Marina Stakusic (1st rd)
Indian Wells - ATP 1000 (Hard)
Reilly Opelka vs. Ethan Quinn (1st rd)
Matteo Berrettini vs. Adrian Mannarino (1st rd)
Camilo Ugo Carabelli vs. Martin Damm Jr. (1st rd)
Zach Svajda vs. Marin Cilic (1st rd)
Gael Monfils vs. Alexis Galarneau (1st rd)
Joao Fonseca vs. Raphael Collignon (1st rd)
Mariano Navone vs. Marcos Giron (1st rd)
Mattia Bellucci vs. Gabriel Diallo (1st rd)
Jenson Brooksby vs. Alexei Popyrin (1st rd)
Zizou Bergs vs. Jan-Lennard Struff (1st rd)
📺 Learn how to watch today’s action over at Tennis Watchers.
💬 For real-time match commentary and conversation, follow Court Theory on Bluesky.
Our friends at Racquet have us thinking about where else to go after Indian Wells.
The two most unlikely doubles players win the Eisenhower Cup…again.
For The Athletic, Charlie Eccleshare writes about Jack Draper’s Indian Wells title defense — and how much has changed for him in the year since then.
Peter Bodo writes that the unusual pairing of Arthur Fils and Goran Ivanisevic just might be the thing that each of them needs the most.
