👋 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

🎾 It ain’t over yet!: This may be Diego Schwartzman’s last tournament, but he hasn’t played his last match just yet. In a battle that lasted just under three hours, El Peque defeated the number seven seed Nicolas Jarry before an overjoyed stadium of supporters. Perhaps nobody was more surprised than Schwartzman himself. Next up: Spain’s Pedro Martinez this afternoon.

🎾 The division tennis doesn’t need: It was probably just a matter of time before a singles player would chime in, siding with U.S. Open organizers on their mixed doubles reconfiguration while doubles players lament their exclusion. And that singles player is Taylor Fritz.

  • What he said: “A lot of doubles players will be upset about it but at the end of the day, the truth of the matter is that mixed doubles, as it was, isn’t adding that much to the Slams. It’s not creating a lot of excitement. They’re not filling up stadiums,” said Fritz.
  • What he’s missing: It is fun watching singles players enter mixed doubles. Yet, the dynamic between singles vs. doubles players is what makes it truly captivating.

🎾 DEI pressures hit Indian Wells: BNP Paribas, the Paris-based bank and title sponsor of the Indian Wells Open, has pulled back on events focused on women during the tournament next month, including rescinding invitations to speakers, The New York Times has reported. The change of heart appears to be DEI-related, according to the report. Some BNP Paribas staff members were told the bank wished to avoid attention for its efforts on the subject.

  • What they said: BNP spokeswoman Michelle Sprod confirmed the decision, citing planning and resource limitations: “We’ll do that next year.”
  • Why it matters: International Women’s Day, which falls during the tournament, is a significant part of the programming at Indian Wells.
  • What’s next: Some fear caving into policy changes could have other chilling effects on the sport, including rollback on equal prize money for men and women.

And, that’s game.

What They Said

I was more like trying to emphasise the positives of when he’s playing well, this is what it looks like and this is what it feels like for the player down the other end. As a player you never know the speed of your own shot, the speed of your ball, what impact it’s having on the guy down the other end, what are they feeling...If I (had been) able to hear from Novak or (Roger) Federer or (Rafael) Nadal when I was playing against them, ‘oh I hate it when you do this to me or when you hit this shot’, that would have been a huge, huge help to me to know that.

-Andy Murray on how he’s helping Novak Djokovic.

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Watch This!

🔥 Elena Rybakina vs. Iga Swiatek (Quarterfinals WTA 1000 - Doha): Watch this one for the tension and the drama. Both players have been playing quite erratically thanks to off-court distractions. But when they’re on (and they always bring out the best in each other), park yourself because it’s a true treat.

  • The record: Swiatek leads the head-to-head record 4-3, including winning the most recent meeting at this year at United Cup in two close sets. They played for the title at this very event last year. Swiatek won that in straight sets.
  • On the line: Rybakina is desperate to turn the conversation away from the suspension of her coach Stefano Vukov and the upsetting details the investigation uncovered. Winning — especially over the number two player in the world — will help with that. As for Swiatek, she’s looking to get back in her groove that has been disrupted with the doping investigation that caused much stress and uncertainty while she was on top of the rankings last year.

Keeping an Eye on...

  • Ons Jabeur vs. Jelena Ostapenko (Quarterfinals WTA 1000 - Doha)
  • Marta Kostyuk vs. Amanda Anisimova (Quarterfinals WTA 1000 - Doha)
  • Pedro Martinez vs. Diego Schwartzman (2nd round ATP 250 - Buenos Aires)
  • Mariano Navone vs. Holger Rune (2nd round ATP 250 - Buenos Aires)
  • Lorenzo Musetti vs. Corentin Moutet (2nd round ATP 250 - Buenos Aires)
  • Zhizhen Zhang vs. Hubert Hurkacz (2nd round ATP 250 - Marseille)
  • Reilly Opelka vs. Brandon Nakashima (2nd round ATP 250 - Delray Beach)
  • Matteo Arnaldi vs. Learner Tien (2nd round ATP 250 - Delray Beach)

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

Read, Watch, Listen

  • Iga Swiatek gets into how stressful it was to manage the release of information to the public when it came to her doping investigation.
  • The Cerundolo brothers facing each other for the first time in an ATP Tour event is a great headline. Their family story is even better.
  • Rennae Stubbs and Caitlin Thompson get into some serious questions — including the U.S. Open mixed doubles debacle — on The Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast.
  • And Andy Roddick offers his thoughts on the Rybakina-Vukov situation.

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Which matches are you watching? What news caught your eye today? Hit the comments below!