👋 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.
Let’s tennis!
Three Points
🎾 Let’s see that again: A ball kid interference, a video review, a hindrance call, an underhand serve. A 6-6 in the tiebreak. Did we mention Alexander Bublik was involved? Watch this insanity for yourselves.
🎾 What we need is a system: Former top ten player Barbara Schett touched on an important issue when it comes to the topic of abuse and the Rybakina-Vukov case — specifically about why other players struggle with speaking up about cases of abuse. In no small part, it’s the lack of systems in place and a guarantee of protection for providing such information.
- What she said: “The problem is that many players don't dare to say anything because they’re afraid of personal consequences. For example, I was incredibly afraid of Jelena Dokic’s father. I would probably never have said anything because I thought he would kill me. It was perhaps a little different with Dokic than with Rybakina because she was also beaten, but in your mid-20s you may not yet know what is really going on. Perhaps you don’t find it as tragic as you do later.”
🎾 Cilic with a surprise: Marin Cilic, the 36-year-old who is now ranked just inside the top 200, pulled off a stunning win over current top ten player Alex de Minaur. The 2014 U.S. Open champion has been showing some incredible form in the last six months, including taking home the title from Hangzhou in September.
- What he said: “I haven’t had that many chances to settle in this season,” said Cilic, who will face Alexei Popyrin in the second round. “Last week I played Carlos in Doha, Alex here. They’re both Top 10 guys playing extremely well. It’s a great effort from me, a great sign that I’m playing really well. It’s a matter of matches for me that I can get in the match form. Hopefully, I can keep the form going.”
