👋 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!
Four Points
🎾 More Open: U.S. Open organizers announced on Wednesday that the tournament will expand to 15 days by starting a day earlier. The move follows Roland-Garros and the Australian Open, both of which started main draw matches on Sunday in recent years. On social media, there was a split between those who lamented the move as a cash grab and others who appreciated the effort to make more tennis available — especially on television for non-enthusiasts. In general, accommodating record-breaking crowds seems like an indicator of healthy growth in our sport. Let’s keep those people engaged!
🎾 Leveling the playing field: The Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA), the pseudo-union for pro players established by Novak Djokovic and Vasek Pospisil in 2020, has launched a pro bono legal defense program for players facing allegations of doping or corruption. It’s a welcomed response to the discrepancy between how, say, a Jannik Sinner can fight doping allegations with all of his financial resources versus a player ranked 200 in the world, where they’re lucky to break even in any given week.
🎾 When the shoe fits: On Wednesday, Wilson unveiled its first high-performance shoe designed specifically for women. Instead of adapting a men’s shoe or engineering men’s and women’s models side-by-side, the development of the Wilson Intrigue started with a study of women’s feet and consulting current world number 22 Marta Kostyuk, who will be the face of the shoe on the WTA Tour. This may not seem like revolutionary stuff, but it marks a clear shift in thinking about how brands think about women competitors and consumers.
🎾 A sign things still aren’t quite right: Stefanos Tsitsipas has accepted a wild card into the ATP 500 ABN AMR Open in Rotterdam next week. The announcement came after abruptly withdrawing from playing for Greece in Davis Cup later this week. The whole episode is a strange last-minute decision for a top player — and a sign things are still off-kilter in his career and camp.
And, that’s game.
What They Said
For me, I am completely away from them. I am miles away from what they achieved. I think it’s a little bit disrespectful for them and especially for Andy because that’s the talk that came...I am happy with what I achieved. I achieved way more than I could dream in my career but I also know as a fact that my career is my career and I am so far away from what they have been doing.
-Stan Wawrinka on being included in the “Big Five.”
Watch This!
🔥 Tallon Griekspoor vs. Richard Gasquet (2nd round — ATP 250 — Montpellier): If their respective forms hold up from the previous round, this should be a highly entertaining match. Griekspoor is happiest when he’s indoors (and maybe grass), while Gasquet is dangerous on all surfaces (except maybe grass) and particularly benefits at this stage of his career by not facing extreme elements. Expect Griekspoor to hit big and hug the baseline to keep points short with power and by closing off points at the net. Gasquet will do his best to extend those rallies by just one or two shots so he can create his own unique winners with angles and banana forehands down the line.
- The record: This will be the first meeting between Griekspoor and Gasquet.
- On the line: Tallon Griekspoor is keen to get his game back on track to where he was a little more than a year ago when he was 21 in the world and climbing. A quarterfinal appearance in Montpellier would go a long way to achieving that. Meanwhile, Gasquet intends to retire after Roland-Garros this year, so every match counts in terms of ending on a high note and performing well in Paris this spring.
Keeping an Eye on...
- Anna Blinkova vs. Elina Svitolina (2nd round — WTA 500 — Linz)
- Karolina Muchova vs. Sara Sorribes Tormo (2nd round — WTA 500 — Linz)
- Mattia Bellucci vs. Aleksandar Kovacevic (2nd round — ATP 250 — Montpellier)
- Arthur Rinderknech vs. Nokoloz Basilashvili (2nd round — ATP 250 — Montpellier)
- Ann Li vs. Kimberly Birrell (Quarterfinals — WTA 250 Singapore)
Learn how to watch today’s action over at Tennis Watchers.
Read, Watch, Listen
- If you’re missing the Australian Open, they’ve got you with Back To Back, the official Australian Open 2025 tournament film.
- In a sign things are changing, Emma Raducanu has accepted a wild card to play qualifying at Abu Dhabi — the first time since the 2021 U.S. Open she’s entered preliminary rounds.
- Bernard Tomic has some things to say about his tennis for the first time since the report about an investigation into potential match-fixing surfaced during the Australian Open.
- The European Open is moving from Antwerp to Brussels.
