👋 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.

On tap today, we’ve got: Venus Williams is also confused, Jack Draper’s fitness woes, Mirra Andreeva knows who to thank, and a look at today’s tennis matches.

Let’s tennis!

Three Points

🎾 Venus was never ‘in’ at Indian Wells: Venus Williams was apparently just as surprised as the rest of us when tournament organizers at Indian Wells announced her wild card into the singles draw last week. The former world number one told an audience in Denmark on Sunday that she would not participate in the Sunshine Double event in California next month.

  • What she said: “Actually, I found the announcement super amusing because, I don’t know, people seem to be happy, so I was like, ‘Maybe I’ll just go with it, I don’t know.’ I’m actually not going. I’m going to be overseas. I’m not going to be [there] ... I just had a player text me today too, like, ‘Can you play doubles?’ [But] I’m not playing.”
  • What Indian Wells is saying: Not much. There might be some embarrassment on this.

🎾 Draper’s fitness woes continue: Jack Draper pulled out of Dubai on Sunday, saying that he needed to “prioritize” his body and recovery following his run to the final in Doha, where he lost to Andrey Rublev. In that Saturday match, Draper hit the wall in the third set, losing it 6-1 after trading a pair of 7-5 sets. It’s not the first time Draper’s fitness has determined the outcome of a critical match. At 23 years old, it’s a critical juncture for Draper at which fitness absolutely must be worked out not just in terms of endurance but also staving off injuries.

  • Recently: In the offseason, Draper hired a breathing coach to help with his nasal breathing to help with his point-by-point recovery.
  • A consideration: Draper plays with the force of a big power player and the mindset of a grinder. That’s an untenable combination. Enlisting the help of any one or two of the former best short-point players in the world would go a long way toward helping him resolve the fitness problem.

🎾 It’s a social issue: After last week’s incident of a stalker harassing Emma Raducanu, the WTA is calling on social media platforms to step up their efforts to protect women playing on the tour.

  • What she said: “I absolutely believe social media companies owe a great deal more to their users to better protect them – especially female athletes who we know are a primary target for this type of mistreatment,” Lindsay Brandon, the organization’s director of safeguarding, told the Guardian. “Unfortunately I think in our current climate we’re seeing deregulation, loss of fact-checking, certain protections for some users and not for others.”
  • The problem: There’s nothing incorrect with what Brandon said. It’s an obvious truth. But it runs congruent with another truth that the WTA seems to recognize: the social media platforms have little interest in prioritizing the safety of children, never mind adults with security details.

And, that’s game.

What They Said

Last but not least, I would like to thank me. I know what I have been dealing with and I just want to thank me for always believing in me.

-Mirra Andreeva during the trophy presentation after defeating Clara Tauson in the Dubai final.

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Watch This!

🔥 Flavio Cobolli vs. Ben Shelton (1st round ATP 500 - Acapulco): This is a match-up that gives Ben Shelton fits. Each time they’ve played, it’s gone the distance. And each time, Shelton’s come up short. Expect Shelton to play his big hitting game and for Cobolli to counterpunch until either Shelton has a wild miss or Cobolli gets his opportunity to go for it. The big questions are: Can Shelton manage his patience and does Cobolli have the confidence with his slow start to 2025?

  • The record: Flavio Cobolli leads the head-to-head over Ben Shelton 2-0, once on hard court and once on clay. Both matches came last year.
  • On the line: For Shelton, this match is about pride. He needs to prove he can defeat this player who is ranked signficantly below him and also that he can get up for matches outside the majors. For Cobolli, it’s much simpler: get on the board for the first time this year. In regular tournament play, the Italian is 0-4.

On The Radar

  • Ajla Tomljanovic vs. Katie Volynets (1st round WTA 250 - Austin)
  • Donna Vekic vs. Emiliana Arango (1st round WTA 500 - Merida)
  • Dan Evans vs. Karen Khachanov (1st round ATP 500 - Dubai)
  • Stefanos Tsitsipas vs. Lorenzo Sonego (1st round ATP 500 - Dubai)
  • Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard vs. Zhizhen Zhang (1st round ATP 500 - Dubai)
  • Arthur Rinderknech vs. Casper Ruud (1st round ATP 500 - Acapulco)
  • Gabriel Diallo vs. Tommy Paul (1st round ATP 500 - Acapulco)
  • Jakub Mensik vs. Tomas Machac (1st round ATP 500 - Acapulco)
  • Daniel Altmaier vs. Miomir Kecmanovic (1st round ATP 500 - Acapulco)
  • Yannick Hanfmann vs. Facundo Diaz Acosta (1st round ATP 250 - Santiago)

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

Read, Watch, Listen

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