👋 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!
Five Points
🎾 Shutting it down: As if Daria Kasatkina doesn’t have enough headaches with Russia, a reported administrative error by Abu Dhabi tournament organizers temporarily listed Spain as the nationality of the world’s number eleven player. Kasatkina hasn’t been home in two-and-a-half years since coming out and calling into question the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which raised questions about the validity of the so-called mistake. A spokesperson for Kasatkina, recognizing the potential severity of the situation, hurried to put the discussion to rest, saying, “This carries some strong implications for Daria if the Russian authorities feel she is trying to switch — which she is not.”
🎾 And opening back up: Elena Rybakina has another new coach. Following the quick exit of Goran Ivanisevic during the Australian Open, Rybakina has added to her team Davide Sanguinetti — the former top 50 player, who was until recently coaching Brandon Nakashima. “We are working with Davide like just did one week of preparation and actually Stefano knew him a little bit and I knew him a little from before,” Rybakina said ahead of this week’s event in Abu Dhabi. Rybakina’s “We” refers to Stefano Vukov — the coach she fired and who was later suspended from the WTA Tour for what is largely understood to be abusive behavior toward Rybakina. He is now back in her camp.
🎾 Wild card is right: Former world number one Simona Halep is set to play at the WTA 250 event in her home country, Romania, this week. The 33-year-old is now 870 in the world and required a wild card to get into the main draw. She confessed to the Romanian sports outlet Golazo that retirement is on her mind. “The thought of retiring crosses my mind very often. I’ve reached an age where I have injuries that are hard to recover from,” she said. “My knee won’t heal completely – I was advised to undergo surgery, but it’s a complicated procedure, and I don’t think I will go through with it.”
🎾 Alcaraz enters the debate: When Patrick Mouratoglou started a debate last week on the Sinner vs. Alcaraz question, it was only a matter of time before media asked the two players to weigh in. Ahead of Rotterdam, Alcaraz gave his answer: “Jannik is the best right now,” Alcaraz told reporters. “He has lost only four or five matches in the past year, so it’s crazy. I know people say who’s better out of us. They say Jannik is better or some say me. It’s all discussion.”
🎾 One Gilles too many: Ahead of Rotterdam, Daniil Medvedev confirmed that former world number six Gilles Simon is no longer on his team. “Gilles joined the team just under a year ago, in February 2024. It was a good experience but it didn’t go as I would have hoped, especially in terms of results,” Medvedev said. He added: “There were many good things in our collaboration with Gilles, but we didn’t win any titles, Slams or anything like that. I’ve certainly learned a lot about tennis and I’m sure that all this will help me in the future.” Gilles Cevara, however, remains as Medvedev’s coach.
And, that’s game.
Watch This!
🔥 Stan Wawrinka vs. Daniil Medvedev (1st round ATP 500 - Rotterdam): This might seem like a strange pick, given how both players have performed lately (that is, not well). But! That just might be what makes this match compelling to watch. Expect Medvedev to test the legs of Wawrinka with lots of side-to-side movement and long, drawn out points. And expect Wawrinka to meet the challenge when he needs to. But we’ll see plenty of Stanimal-like rips off both wings to end points early.
- The record: The head-to-head record between Stan Wawrinka and Daniil Medvedev is dead even at 2-2. Wawrinka has won the last two times they’ve met. But that’s particularly telling since the last time they played was more than two years ago at Metz.
- On the line: Wawrinka, who turns 40 next month, is looking to show he still belongs among the top players in the world, even if his ranking is outside the top 150 at the moment. For Medvedev, he’s looking to get something (anything!) going after playing very little tennis in the last four months, punctuated by an early exit at the Australian Open at the hands of Learner Tien.
Keeping an Eye on...
- Sonay Kartal vs. Katie Volynets (1st round WTA 500 - Abu Dhabi)
- Caroline Garcia vs. Lulu Sun (1st round WTA 500 - Abu Dhabi)
- McCartney Kessler vs. Ashlyn Krueger (1st round WTA 500 - Abu Dhabi)
- Flavio Cobolli vs. Hubert Hurkacz (1st round ATP 500 - Rotterdam)
- Alejandro Davidovich Fokina vs. Brandon Holt (1st round ATP 500 - Dallas)
- Matteo Arnaldi vs. Chris Eubanks (1st round ATP 500 - Dallas)
- Frances Tiafoe vs. Taro Daniel (1st round ATP 500 - Dallas)
Learn how to watch today’s action over at Tennis Watchers.
Read, Watch, Listen
- The Davis Cup tie between Belgium and Chile ended in the most avoidable and absurd manner. [note: keep your eye out for the Court Theory newsletter for more on this]
- Felix Auger-Aliassime won the title in Montpellier by defeating Aleksandar Kovacevic in an absolutely fascinating match, filled with tons of highlights.
- Ekaterina Alexandrova took down Dayana Yastremska in an equally thrilling title match.
- And Ann Li had quite a week in Singapore before running into Elise Mertens in the final.
- Paula Badosa gets into her love-hate relationships with tennis on Caroline Garcia’s Tennis Insider Club podcast.
- Netflix gives a little taste of its Carlos Alcaraz documentary.
