👋 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.

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Let’s tennis!

Three Points

🎾 Doubling down: In yesterday’s edition of The Daily Theory, I (like many others) questioned whether or not Venus Ebony Starr Williams should consider focusing on doubles, given how well she and Hailey Baptiste played together. Wrong answer. Last night, she stunned everyone (including Peyton Stearns) when she won their singles battle 6-3, 6-4. It was vintage Venus, knocking down huge first serves, taking the ball early, and finishing off points at the net.

  • What she said: “I’m just constantly praying for good health, so that way I could have an opportunity to play with good health,” Williams said after the match. “A lot of this for me is being able to come back and try to play at a level [and] to play healthy.” She added: “I wanted to play a good match...And win the match.”
  • And what she said: “She played some ball tonight,” Stearns said. “She was moving really well, which I wasn’t expecting too much, honestly. Her serves were just on fire.”
  • Noteworthy: At 45 years old, Williams became the oldest woman to win a WTA Tour singles match since Martina Navratilova won at 47 in 2004.
  • Next: Williams is back on the court today for doubles with Hailey Baptiste. They face Townsend and Zhang. On Thursday, she’ll play Magdalena Frech for a second-round singles battle.

🎾 A choice: Jannik Sinner has rehired the fitness coach who purchased the spray that was at the center of his three-month doping ban. A statement from Sinner’s team released on Wednesday said Umberto Ferrara is back in his position with immediate effect.

  • What they said: “The decision has been made in alignment with Jannik’s management team as part of ongoing preparations for upcoming tournaments, including the Cincinnati Open and U.S. Open,” a statement from Sinner’s team said. “Umberto has played an important role in Jannik’s development to date, and his return reflects a renewed focus on continuity and performance at the highest level.”
  • Previously: At last year’s U.S. Open, Sinner explained his decision to part ways with Ferrara and physiotherapist Giacomo Naldi: “Now, because of these mistakes, I’m not feeling that confident to continue with them. I was struggling a lot in the last months. I was waiting for the result. The only thing I need right now is some clean air.”
  • Yes, but: It might be true that Ferrara wasn’t responsible for the sloppiness that led to the ban. Naldi was clearly at fault. But for somebody who wants the doping chatter behind his back and in the media to stop, why would Sinner feed the chatter with this reappointment? Make it make sense.

🎾 Mixed results: The controversy over mixed doubles at the U.S. Open has been stirred up again after the organizers updated the entry list for the exhibition-like remix.

  • Noteworthy: Katerina Siniakova, the world number one in doubles, has entered with fellow world number one Marcelo Arevalo. Yes, you read that correctly: two number ones. But they didn’t make the cut by the U.S. Open’s criteria. “When two world No. 1s in doubles don’t get into the tournament, there’s probably nothing more to say about it,” Siniakova said.
  • Intriguing: Paula Badosa and Stefanos Tsitsipas are no longer among the entrants, adding more credibility to the all-but-confirmed rumor that the two are no longer romantically linked.