👋 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
🎾 Simona Halep calls it a career: Halep, former number one who captured two majors ended her career before a home crowd on Tuesday. Following her match during an emotional on-court send-off, she called it as she saw it: “It’s a beautiful thing. I became world number one, I won grand slams, it’s all I wanted. Life goes on, there is life after tennis and I hope that we will see each other again. I’ll come to the tennis here as often as I can and of course I will continue to play – but to be competitive it requires much more and at this moment it is no longer.”
🎾 Building back: Jenson Brooksby didn’t look too sharp in his return to the tour at the Australian Open, winning just five games across three sets in the first round against Taylor Fritz. Choosing a major for his first event in two years may have been too big of an ask. But! After just one more match under his belt at a Challenger in Cleveland, the 24-year-old former number 33, showed up in Dallas and seriously challenged top 10 player Tommy Paul in the first round in three tight sets. All signs suggest there's much more to this topsy-turvy story that is to be written.
🎾 Redfoo heads to the Red Sea: Stefan Gordy, the tennis-obsessed singer from the band LMFAO and better known as Redfoo, is making his pro tennis debut. The 49-year-old was awarded a wild card into an ITF tournament in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. Gordy, who is the former boyfriend of Vika Azarenka, has been a promoter of tennis for years and runs a tennis alternative called Timeball.
And, that’s game.
What They Said
I definitely don’t have that shot. I guess today I did, but that’s probably a one out of fifty kinda shot.
-Tommy Paul on his shot of the year.
Watch This!
🔥 Taylor Fritz vs. Arthur Rinderknech (1st round ATP 500 - Dallas): This will probably be some entertaining tennis, but you watch this one for the drama. You may recall that moment at Roland-Garros in 2023 when Taylor Fritz showed a different side to his personality when, after winning a tortuous match, shushed the crowd who then showered him in a lengthy booing session. His opponent that day? Arthur Rinderknech. Since then, they’ve had a low-level war of words. Let’s see what the Battle of Dallas brings for spectators.
- The record: Fritz leads the head-to-head record over Rinderknech 2-0. Both wins came in majors — once on the red clay of Roland-Garros in 2023 and once on the lawns of Wimbledon in 2024.
- On the line: Because of their previous beef, Fritz never ever wants to lose to Rinderknech. But that’s especially true as the top seed where his clothing sponsor Boss is one of the main tournament sponsors. As for Rinderknech, he’s looking to break back into the top 50. A first-round win at a 500 would help push up from his current ATP ranking of 60.
Keeping an Eye on...
- Elena Rybakina vs. Katie Volynets (2nd round WTA 500 - Abu Dhabi)
- Wakana Sonobe vs. Ons Jabeur (2nd round WTA 500 - Abu Dhabi)
- Ashlyn Krueger vs. Daria Kasatkina (2nd round WTA 500 - Abu Dhabi)
- Matteo Berrettini vs. Tallon Griekspoor (1st round ATP 500 - Rotterdam)
- Kei Nishikori vs. Tomas Machac (1st round ATP 500 - Dallas)
- Reilly Opelka vs. Alexander Shevchenko (1st round ATP 500 - Dallas)
Learn how to watch today’s action over at Tennis Watchers.
Read, Watch, Listen
- At The Athletic, Matt Futterman digs into the arms race among the four slams.
- The Body Serve podcast gets into some tennis controversies in a way that only The Body Serve can do.
- Coco Gauff made a $100,000 donation to the United Negro College Fund, noting that “My family has a deep-rooted history with HBCUs, going all the way back to my great-great-grandfather. From aunts and uncles to cousins, HBCUs have played a huge role in shaping who we are.”
- Billie Jean King and Dove have partnered to send a message to girls and women everywhere: Trust your bodies. Believe in yourself.
- Carlos Alcaraz has added a new physio to his team.
- Casper Ruud explains what “it’s completely Texas” means.
