👋 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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On tap today: Emma Raducanu takes more lazy punches from the British media, it’s American Women’s Day at Roland-Garros, Stefanos Tsitsipas assesses his maturity, Novak Djokovic takes on Corentin Moutet, plus more in today’s tennis news.

Let’s tennis!

Three Points

🎾 Cue the British press: There’s no other way to put it: Iga Swiatek throttled Emma Raducanu on Wednesday. In the 6-1, 6-2 victory, Swiatek rattled off 32 winners and dominated Raducanu’s second serve points. The British press, per usual, rang the alarms, letting everyone know that the FORMER U.S. CHAMPION had lost...again. But one went further than all the others. Oliver Brown, the chief sports writer at The Telegraph, piled on harder and higher than the others, saying it was time for everyone to stop tiptoeing around Raducanu and that he was there to deliver the truth.

  • What he said: “And yet no sooner had Raducanu been ground into the crushed brick of Roland Garros than Tim Henman declared that she could leave the season’s second major with a ‘lot of positives.’ What, that she had taken three games off Swiatek, as opposed to the one she managed in Melbourne in January? That she carved out a break point in the opening game?”
  • Lazy criticism: The column comes off as something that Brown kept meaning to publish over the last two years and didn’t. So much of the criticism that he wages (that she isn’t winning, that she can’t step up against top players, that she suffers from an inferiority complex, etc.) is being actively addressed by Mark Petchey and is noticeably improved since reaching the quarterfinals in Miami.
  • To be clear: It feels strange to defend Raducanu in this way after previously offering critiques in The Daily Theory. But when things are on the right track, they’re on the right track — and that deserves to be registered, too. What Brown did was nothing short of punching down with some outdated criticism at a time when things are actually going more right for Raducanu than they have in a few years.

🎾 American Women’s Day: It’s not an official day at Roland-Garros. But with nine U.S. women in singles action today (including two facing each other), it might as well be.

  • Naming names: Ann Li takes on Jessica Pegula, and then we’ve got Coco Gauff, Madison Keys, Ashlyn Krueger, Hailey Baptiste, Alycia Parks, Robin Montgomery, and Sofia Kenin.

🎾 Another early exit: Stefanos Tsitsipas became the latest seed to fall in the men’s draw at Roland-Garros after a surprise loss to Matteo Gigante, the 167th-ranked player (yes, you read that correctly).

  • What he said: “I expected bigger things from myself these two weeks,” Tsitsipas said after the match. “I seemed to be playing immature sometimes during the match. I wasn’t fully present in the moment. So I would describe that (as) immaturity, not knowing how to handle those situations.” He added: “I’m an optimistic person. I don’t want to use any excuses or anything like that, so my entire focus is on how can we come to solutions, solve certain things. It’s a constant puzzle. I’m ambitious, and I want to prove it on the tennis court. Things have definitely changed over the last couple of years, and I know that I find myself in a completely different position now. I just need to use my experience a little bit more wisely, I would say. My experience sometimes kind of stabs me I feel like, instead of utilizing it in a more professional and profound way.”
  • The numbers: Tsitsipas began the clay season in Monte Carlo ranked number eight. Each week since then, his ranking has dropped precipitously, and he will be approximately 25 once the next rankings come out.

And, that’s game.

What They Said

The only thing that was really going on in my mind was extending, extending points, extending games, extending the match...Wasn’t really ready to go home yet. Felt like there was more to do at Roland Garros for me.

-Tommy Paul on how he came back from down two sets to love to defeat Marton Fucsovics on Wednesday.

Watch This!

🔥 Corentin Moutet vs. Novak Djokovic (2nd round - Roland Garros): Novak Djokovic hasn’t been himself for much of the year. But after winning the tournament in Geneva last week, he seems to have regained the will to win. This match against Corentin Moutet will test how true that is or isn’t in more ways than one. There’s little doubt that Moutet will do what he can to get under the skin of Djokovic with his on-court antics, his junk balls, his underarm serves, and his ongoing chatter. But Djokovic will also be tested by the French crowd, who will be firmly on their countryman’s side (although Moutet has crossed a line in the past for their taste earning boos). Is he willing to handle all of that for a win? We’ll see.

  • The record: Novak Djokovic leads the head-to-head record over Corentin Moutet, 2-0. Their most recent meeting was a decisive win for Djokovic on the red clay of Rome last year.
  • On the line: For Moutet, who has been playing some reasonably good tennis as of late, a win against a top ten opponent in which he’s expected to lose would be huge. Meanwhile, a loss for Djokovic would signal that the end is nearer than perhaps we thought.
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On The Radar

More tennis matches we’re monitoring today:

Roland-Garros - WTA (Clay)

  • Ann Li vs. Jessica Pegula (2nd round)
  • Madison Keys vs. Katie Boulter (2nd round)
  • Mirra Andreeva vs. Ashlyn Krueger (2nd round)
  • Vika Azarenka vs. Sofia Kenin (2nd round)
  • Alycia Parks vs. Elsa Jacquemot (2nd round)
  • Magdalena Frech vs. Marketa Vondrousova (2nd round)
  • Hailey Baptiste vs. Nao Hibino (2nd round)
  • Robin Montgomery vs. Jessica Bouzas Maneiro (2nd round)

Roland-Garros - ATP (Clay)

  • Jannik Sinner vs. Richard Gasquet (2nd round)
  • Gael Monfils vs. Jack Draper (2nd round)
  • Jaume Munar vs. Arthur Fils (2nd round)
  • Jacob Fearnley vs. Ugo Humbert (2nd round)
  • Flavio Cobolli vs. Matteo Arnaldi (2nd round)
  • Denis Shapovalov vs. Filip Misolic (2nd round)
  • Gabriel Diallo vs. Tallon Griekspoor (2nd round)

📺 Learn how to watch today’s action over at Tennis Watchers.

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For real-time match commentary and conversation, follow Court Theory on Bluesky.