👋 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.

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Let’s tennis!

Four Points

🎾 Pathetic, indeed: Dan Evans took to social media to call one of Alejandro Davidovich Fokina’s complaints “pathetic.” On Thursday, Davidovich Fokina complained that his 11:00 match on Friday in Toronto was “extremely early.”

  • What he said: “Today I want to share my disappointment and frustration with the ATP,” Davidovich Fokina posted on X. “Tomorrow, every match starts at 12:30, except ours, which has been scheduled at 11:00. We’re staying one hour away from the club, which means we have to wake up extremely early to arrive in good condition.” He added: “We’ve asked for a change, but the answer was that everything has already been sold, tickets, TV rights, etc. Once again, it’s clear that players are not taken into consideration.”
  • And what he said: “Wake up and play,” Evans posted in an Instagram story. “The world wakes up and works 9-5, even 8-6. Pathetic.”
  • The Court Theory take: Evans is correct. This is pathetic. However, if it’s true that he is staying an hour away, is that the tournament hotel? If so, that’s a complaint worth lodging. But a very standard 11:00 start time is not.

🎾 Serving trouble: Coco Gauff pulled off another win from a severely hampered position on Thursday against Veronika Kudermetova, 4-6, 7-5, 6-2. Although she cut her double faults from her previous match against Danielle Collins from 23 to 14, Gauff recognizes serving remains an impediment.

  • What she said: “Obviously, I am so disappointed in myself when it comes to that part of the game,” Gauff said in her post-match news conference. “Serving really well in practice. So I just would like for it to transfer to the match. It does give positives that, OK, I’m winning these matches having literally like one part of my game on a crutch. So it’s like if I can stand on both feet, then I can only imagine that it would be a lot more straightforward and a lot more easier for me.”
  • Yes, and: Gauff noted that she’s made an adjustment to her service motion, which is working well in practice but not in matches yet.
  • Another number: Perhaps another and more alarming number that Gauff should be concerned about is her unforced error count. She collected 53 against Kudermetova (compared to just 28 winners) and 74 against Collins (compared to just 34 winners).
  • Next: Gauff plays Canadian star Victoria Mboko in the fourth round on Saturday.

🎾 At home: Canadian teen Victoria Mboko is continuing her winning streak by playing some of the absolute best tennis of the entire field in Montreal. On Thursday night, she defeated a fatigued Marie Bouzkova, 1-6, 6-3, 6-0, by smacking 36 winners and knocking down huge serves, including five aces.

  • What she said: “I'm grateful for each and every one of you. This is so amazing and it's such an amazing experience to be able to celebrate together ... I don't even know what to say,” Mboko told the crowd after her Thursday night win.
  • Next: Mboko plays Coco Gauff in the fourth round on Saturday — a match surely to be scheduled for prime time.

🎾 Defending: Alexei Popyrin is rising to the challenge of having to defend 1000 points as the 2024 National Bank Open champ. On Thursday, Popyrin upset Daniil Medvedev, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4.

  • What they said: “I felt like I should have won that first set,” said Popyrin, who jumped to a 4-2 lead on Medvedev. “I was in the driver’s seat, I felt like I was really comfortable out there, and then something happened — the same thing that happened earlier this season when I played him [in Rome]. I kind of let go, and I started feeling my shots a little bit. When that happens, when you play a fast pace against him, he starts feeling the ball a little bit more.”
  • Next: Popyrin faces Holger Rune in the fourth round on Saturday.