Good morning, Court Theorists! ☕️🌱
Today’s tennis mood: Content but also a bit concerned.
Let’s tennis!
-Allen
🎾 Operation Comeback, in progress: In the most anticipated match of the day, Serena Williams took court in her doubles match with Victoria Mboko to a jam-packed Andy Murray Arena. Everyone, including the three other players on the court, wanted to see what Serena would bring to the occasion. What she displayed was about what you might expect: a bit of rust and more than enough of her signature tennis to make you think things are about to get very exciting this grass season.
What she said: “I had so much fun playing with Vicky. She really was able to hold up the team and play big on the big points, and I could really rely on her,” Williams said after the match. “It just felt so natural playing with her, so it was actually really fun.”
Next: Mboko and Williams will next face Leylah Fernandez and Laura Siegemund.
🎾 Injury report: A couple of big names on the ATP Tour have announced they’ve pulled out of the Queen’s Club tournament next week.
Jack Draper: “Recovery going in the right direction, but I’m going to give myself one more week and aim to return at Eastbourne,” Draper said in the tournament's post on social media. “Very hard to miss one of my favorite events of the year.” That means Draper, who is now outside the top 100, will be going right up to the week before Wimbledon having last completed a match in the middle of March.
Lorenzo Musetti: No statement from the Italian, but it’s reasonable to assume the thigh injury that kept him out of Roland-Garros is the culprit. If there’s a positive note, he has no points to defend this grass season, having lost in the first round of Wimbledon last year.
Jannik Sinner: He was never set to play Queen’s Club this year, so ignore the fake news posts that he’s been hospitalized in Italy and skipping the grass season. Between a sensationalist Italian media outlet and bad actors on social media riffing off its report, there’s a bunch of disinformation about the state of Sinner in his post-Roland-Garros period. Hold out for the real thing that sure to come.
🎾 One to watch: Victoria Mboko vs. Karolina Pliskova (2nd round - WTA 500 - London): Watch this match to see Mboko learn how to play on the grass in real-time against a player who can be dangerous on the surface with her big serve and skiddy groundies.
The record: This will be the first time Victoria Mboko and Karolina Pliskova face off.
On the line: For Pliskova, every match she plays is a chance to pull herself back up in the rankings (post-clay season, she’s at 106). On Mboko’s end, this is about getting as many grass court matches under her belt as possible (last year’s Wimbledon was her only event on grass in her pro career), so she can live up to her top 10 ranking at Wimbledon.
🎾 🏆 🎤 YOUR CALL
And that’s game.
