👋 Welcome back to The Daily Theory, our morning rundown to help you stay on top of your favorite sport. I’m Allen McDuffee, your guide to all things tennis.
Let’s tennis!
Three Points
🎾 Another coaching change: A report from the Greek publication Gazetta says Goran Ivanisevic will be joining the Stefanos Tsitsipas camp after Roland-Garros to help with his grass court preparation.
Lately: That news comes just days after we questioned what was happening in the Tsitsipas camp? He has Dimitris Chatzinikolaou listed as his coach. However, during his matches this week, there has been no evidence of Chatzinikolaou’s presence.
One question: Can Tsitsipas stick with one coach for two seasons in a row? He just might find the consistency he’s looking for.
🎾 Can we stop with ball launches already?: When Arthur Fils won his match yesterday against Andrey Rublev he celebrated...by launching a line drive into the crowd. You can see what it looked like from the spectator’s point of view. Is it default-worthy? That’s unclear. But it certainly deserves some kind of punishment.
🎾 Speaking of line drives: Andrea Vavassori has withdrawn from Barcelona next week due to a rib injury he sustained during his doubles match yesterday. Early in the match, Ben Shelton tagged him hard and it caused quite a back-and-forth between the two players, with Shelton calling him soft and telling him: “It’s not a baseball.”
And, that’s game.
Watch This!
🔥 Lorenzo Musetti vs. Stefanos Tsitsipas (Quarterfinals ATP 1000 - Monte Carlo): Watch this one for a classic clay court battle between two guys who know how to play on the dirt and have one-handed backhands. More than that, expect the competitive tension meter to go off the charts as each of them has their own thing to prove in this match. Look for Tsitsipas to bully Musetti off the court, while Musetti attempts to put Tsitsipas in uncomfortable positions until he can strike a winner of his own. Who wins this one? The record says Tsitsipas, but the moment may say otherwise.
The record: Stefanos Tsitsipas leads the head-to-head record over Lorenzo Musetti 5-0. But! Their last meeting was two years ago and much has happened for both of these players in the meantime.
On the line: Stefanos Tsitsipas is the defending champion. If he loses this match, he drops from his current ranking of eight down to approximately 15 or 16. More than that, he wants to keep his confidence up in a place he feels he owns. Musetti doesn’t have match-up pressure, but he does want to keep this forward momentum going. Whether or not he wins this match, he’s currently projected to have a new career-high ranking on Monday.
💬
For real-time match commentary and conversation,
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On The Radar
More tennis matches we’re monitoring today:
Monte Carlo - ATP 1000
Alejandro Davidovich Fokina vs. Alexei Popyrin (Quarterfinals)
Arthur Fils vs. Carlos Alcaraz (Quarterfinals)
Grigor Dimitrov vs. Alex de Minaur (Quarterfinals)
🌎 Looking for women’s action? Billie Jean King Cup is happening throughout the week.
📺 Learn how to watch today’s action over at Tennis Watchers.
Read, Watch, Listen
Netflix has released a new trailer for the Carlos Alcaraz documentary due to be released on April 23.
Speaking of Alcaraz, here is the math to bump him up to number two ahead of Alexander Zverev.
And all of that means that Jannik Sinner remains number one in the world as he returns to action in Rome.
Steve Tignor asks if we are going to miss the ball mark drama on the clay this year.
Thanks For Reading The Daily Theory!
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