Good morning, Court Theorists! ☕️
Today’s tennis mood: Amused + settling in.
Let’s tennis!
-Allen
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🎾 A headline (and not much else): As of February 22nd, Serena Williams is eligible to return to professional tennis, as far as the ITIA is concerned. She’s met all of her anti-doping requirements to re-enter competition. But, as it stands, there’s been no announcement of her plans to compete.
🎾 Prayers answered: Qinwen Zheng called for some kind of divine intervention when it came to her elbow injury, which sidelined her for much of last year. After defeating Sofia Kenin 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 in her return match, she said she could have “kept going for another two hours serving like this,” which would have been quite a feat, given her 20 aces for the match.
What she said: “I was praying, I don’t know if it was to God or something else, but I just wanted my elbow to get back to normal. I don’t pray for winning matches. I just prayed for a normal elbow.” She added: “I think when you come back from an injury, you’re never completely pain-free…Sometimes, when you wake up, you feel better. Sometimes, you wake up and feel worse.”
🎾 Meddy balls: Daniil Medvedev is back on the ball beat. During his first-round match in Rotterdam against Ugo Humbert, the tour’s premier ball critic once again took aim at the tournament’s choice of balls. This time, the target was Head.
What he said: “Are they round? Head balls, are they round? Are you sure? Because I see it not round…” Medvedev said after demanding to see the tournament supervisor. “It’s a bit strange. So I think maybe we should consider not playing with Head balls. He added: “The Head Tour XT ball is not round, so we should not playing with it, nobody should be buying it, we should not be promoting a tennis ball that is not round.”
And, then: It got a little graphic, even if you had to use your imagination in what he was saying. “These balls are horrible. Please delete these f*cking balls from this f*ckng life,” Medvedev said, adding, “The balls are made for…People who love to please…People who love to please with a little bit of saliva.”
Coincidentally: He lost.
🎾 One to watch: Grigor Dimitrov vs. Alex Michelsen (1st round - ATP 250 - Dallas): Two crowd favorites facing off in favorable conditions to both is a nice set-up for a great match. This match will likely come down to the return game. Can Dimitrov handle Michelsen’s rocket with more than a block return? And will Michelsen give up too much of the court by returning from too deep?
The record: This will be the first time Grigor Dimitrov and Alex Michelsen face each other.
On the line: Neither player has points to defend from last year’s Dallas Open, and both of them are desperate to jump-start their 2026 seasons.
🎾 🏆 🎤 YOUR CALL
(Yesterday’s poll results: 66% of you called for Michael Zheng to defeat Sebastian Korda in Dallas. Korda won 6-3, 6-4.)
And that’s game.
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Now booking: Indian Wells, Roland-Garros, Wimbledon & more!
Matches we’re monitoring today:
Doha - WTA 1000 (Hard)
Elisabetta Cocciaretto vs. Coco Gauff (2nd rd)
Iga Swiatek vs. Janice Tjen (2nd rd)
Xinyu Wang vs. Elena Rybakina (2nd rd)
Emma Navarro vs. Anna Kalinskaya (2nd rd)
Ekaterina Alexandrova vs. Jelena Ostapenko (2nd rd)
Dayana Yastremska vs. Elina Svitolina (2nd rd)
Alycia Parks vs. Qinwen Zheng (2nd rd)
Maria Sakkari vs. Jasmine Paolini (2nd rd)
Tereza Valentova vs. Karolina Muchova (2nd rd)
Vera Zvonareva vs. Victoria Mboko (2nd rd)
Dallas - ATP 500 (Hard)
Marin Cilic vs. Learner Tien (1st rd)
Gabriel Diallo vs. Ben Shelton (1st rd)
Taylor Fritz vs. Marcos Giron (1st rd)
Denis Shapovalov vs. Rafael Jodar (1st rd)
Aleksandar Kovacevic vs. Reilly Opelka (1st rd)
Rotterdam - ATP 500 (Hard)
Tallon Griekspoor vs. Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard (1st rd)
Hugo Grenier vs. Jan-Lennard Struff (1st rd)
Alex de Minaur vs. Arthur Fils (1st rd)
Buenos Aires - ATP 250 (Clay)
Daniel Altmaier vs. Juan Manuel Cerundolo (1st rd)
Facundo Diaz Acosta vs. Alejandro Tabilo (1st rd)
Federico Coria vs. Matteo Berrettini (1st rd)
Camilo Ugo Carabelli vs. Francisco Comesana (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 contemplate a tennis world without the Stanimal.
In a rare treat, Jim Courier sits down for an in-depth interview with Caroline Garcia on Tennis Insider Club.
Daria Kasatkina on balancing tennis in Doha and the Winter Olympics in Milan.
Karolina Pliskova says everything is just like it used to be.
Arthur Fils says his comeback required mental strength as much as anything else.
Chris Eubanks and Andy Roddick take on forehands and a few other topics on Served.
RIP, Mark Hodgkinson.
