Good morning, Court Theorists! ☕️
Today’s tennis mood: Content + a bit tickled.
Let’s tennis!
-Allen
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🎾 Winning and winning: Jack Draper made a statement about returning to competitive tennis by winning convincingly in his first match in Davis Cup play. He won over Norway’s Viktor Durasovic, 6-2, 6-2 on Thursday. After a nearly six-month absence, he acknowledged the struggle in getting to this point.
What he said: “Tennis is a bubble, and sometimes you can get distracted that it’s all that matters in life,” Draper told the BBC. “When you have time out, I used it wisely, I think, to try and make sure that when I try and come back to tennis, that I’m ready to go all the way again.” He added: “I’m confident that I'm on a really good path. I’m winning by being here.”
🎾 An answer: Oleksandra Oliynikova, the Ukrainian who won over scores of fans during her first-round Australian Open battle against Madison Keys, has stormed into the semifinals of her first WTA Tour-level event in Cluj-Napoca. She did so, in part, by saving 21 of 23 break points against Xinyu Wang, winning the match 6-4, 6-4. In the post-match interview, we learned about the rotating face art she puts on for each match.
What she said: “It’s kind of a celebration of the game for me,” said Oliynykova. “When I was at the U.S. Open, I saw these randomly in some store, and I got the idea to put these on for the match. For this tournament, it’s special because it’s thematic, and it was my dream to play here. I signed up for this tournament the last year but I didn’t even enter to qualies. For me, it means a lot to play here because of the tournament itself.”
Next: Oliynykova faces Emma Raducanu in the semifinals on Friday.
🎾 Must-see TV: If there’s one match you go back to watch from yesterday, make it the Wawrinka vs. Auger-Aliassime battle. (If that’s not possible, check out the highlights.) This was a high-quality match from beginning to end. When it was over, Auger-Aliassime had nothing but respect for Wawrinka.
What he said: “I know him very well,” Auger-Aliassime said of Wawrinka. “Growing up all these years — watching him be the legendary player he is — all of us young players dream of a career like he has had. The winning, but the resilience, the hard work, the consistency.”
Noteworthy: When these two saw each other at the Australian Open, they joked about how it was Wawrinka’s last year on tour and how they had never played each other. Talk about speaking a match into existence.
🎾 One to watch: Oleksandra Oliynykova vs. Emma Raducanu (Semifinals - WTA 250 - Cluj-Napoca): Watch this one for one of the best stories in 2026 so far, versus a player trying to course-correct on her (still young) career. Expect Raducanu to hit big to the corners and for Oliynykova to fight her tooth and nail on every single shot. Who wins? Who cares! This one is all about the competitive drama.
The record: This will be the first time Emma Raducanu and Oleksandra Oliynykova face each other.
On the line: As the number one seed, and with all eyes on her playing in her father’s home country of Romania, all the pressure is on Raducanu. And that’s before we even get into the extra scrutiny over her parting ways with yet another coach. Meanwhile, Oliynykova is playing pressure-free and with total joy in her first WTA Tour-level event.
🎾 🏆 🎤 YOUR CALL
(Yesterday’s poll results: 50% of you wanted Stan Wawrinka to win and 50% of you wanted Felix Auger-Aliassime to win. Auger-Aliassime won the match, 6-4, 7-6.)
And that’s game.
