👋 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
🎾 El Peque calls it a career: Diego Schwartzman’s career came to an end on Thursday, losing to Spain’s Pedro Martinez. By almost every indication, he took in and enjoyed each moment. Even as it became obvious that the end had arrived, he listened to the crowd chanting his name — and, for a few moments, he wiped away the tears and found a way to smile. After it was over, an on-court ceremony gave Schwartzman an opportunity to speak at length a little about tennis, sure, but really about life.
- What he said: Later, he told ATPTour.com how he knew it was time to end his career: “I understood my body, I understood my head. I knew I had been exhausted for a while and that I couldn’t keep up what I had always managed to do... I achieved much more than I ever dreamed of.”
🎾 The whole thing: Sports Illustrated has published the entire set of gender recommendations Renee Richards made last year to the WTA for the inclusion of transgender athletes in tennis. There are passages that are thought-provoking, inspiring, disappointing, hypocritical, and bewildering.
🎾 Data point: The numbers are in, and the WTA is reporting an astonishing 1.1 billion global audience across broadcast and streaming platforms for 2024. That’s in no small part thanks to a deal with a carrier in China that brought live tennis to new regions in the country. But the WTA also reported significant upticks in several other markets, as well. In other words, here’s the proof that there’s not a product problem in women’s tennis. There never was. It’s always been a marketing and distribution problem.
And, that’s game.
What They Said
I know Ons is their favorite, I respect that, but, you know, between serves, shouting and whistling and coughing, I think it’s a little bit disrespectful, not only to me, if this happens to any other player I think they should be taken care of...I respect Ons, I respect the crowd, and I feel like some moments they were even motivating me better, like more and more, and I was playing even better, so I kind of like it, you know.
-Jelena Ostapenko on what it was like facing Ons Jabeur in the Middle East.
Watch This!
🔥 Taylor Fritz vs. Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (Quarterfinals ATP 250 - Delray Beach): On paper, this might not seem like it would be a competitive match, given the more than 50 spot gap in the rankings. However, there’s something about this match-up that should present at least a couple hours of entertainment. Part of that equation has to do with the recent level of play both players have displayed so far this year. Currently, Fritz isn’t playing like a top five player, and Davidovich Fokina’s level is wildly oscillating.
- The record: Alejandro Davidovich leads this head-to-head 2-1. However, both of those wins were on the red clay of Europe.
- On the line: Davidovich Fokina is looking to climb his way back into the top 50 where he belongs. A quarterfinal win would help with that. For Fritz, this match is less about what he can gain and more about what he would lose. In other words, he can’t suffer another terrible loss this early in a tournament.
Keeping an Eye on...
- Jelena Ostapenko vs. Iga Swiatek (Semifinals WTA 1000 - Doha)
- Ekaterina Alexandrova vs. Iga Swiatek (Semifinals WTA 1000 - Doha)
- Zizou Bergs vs. Zhizhen Zhang (Quarterfinals ATP 250 - Marseille)
- Lorenzo Sonego vs. Ugo Humbert (Quarterfinals ATP 250 - Marseille)
- Joao Fonseca vs. Mariano Navone (Quarterfinals ATP 250 - Buenos Aires)
- Matteo Arnaldi vs. Brandon Nakashima (Quarterfinals ATP 250 - Delray Beach)
Learn how to watch today’s action over at Tennis Watchers.
Read, Watch, Listen
- Wimbledon’s planned expansion hits more snags along the way.
- Emma Raducanu lands another wild card — this time in Dubai — with an eye toward ending her first-round losing streak of four in a row.
- Andrea Petkovic gets philosophical about the senseless loss.
- Racquet has the rundown on where to travel with...ahem...your racket in 2025.
- Peter Bodo discusses all the (dangerous) ways in which tennis players are now subject to the public view.
- How the players in Doha are layering up for the chilly weather.
- The odd return of Camila Giorgi to tennis, as if nothing ever happened.
