👋 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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On tap today: Wimbledon’s wild opening day, controversial curfews, Petra Kvitova’s final Wimbledon run, Sofia Kenin takes on Taylor Townsend, plus more in today’s tennis news!

Let’s tennis!

Four Points

🎾 Wild grass: Maybe it was the heat, or maybe it was the grass, but Wimbledon did not ease in on day one. Ten seeds — including a few top 10 players — dropped on the first day of play, mostly on the men’s side.

  • Women’s upsets: Katie Boulter def. Paula Badosa 6-2, 3-6, 6-4; Sonay Kartal def. Jelena Ostapenko 7-5, 2-6, 6-2; Marketa Vondrousova def. McCartney Kessler 6-1, 7-6
  • Men’s upsets: Benjamin Bonzi def. Daniil Medvedev 7-6, 3-6, 7-6, 6-2; Nicolas Jarry def. Holger Rune 4-6, 4-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-4; Kamil Majchrzak def. Matteo Berrettini 4-6, 6-2, 6-4, 5-7, 6-3; Valentin Royer def. Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-3, 6-2, ret.; Jenson Brooksby def. Tallon Griekspoor 6-2, 7-5, 6-3; Arthur Fery def. Alexei Popyrin 6-4, 6-1, 4-6, 6-4; Nuno Borges def. Francisco Cerundolo 4-6, 6-3, 7-6, 6-0
  • One bad take: “Not at all,” a salty Holger Rune replied if he was bothered by the heat. “I mean, if I play normal, I’m beating him nine out of ten times, with all respect for Nicolas Jarry.”

🎾 Squeaking by: Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz nearly joined the list of upset seeds in the first match of the day on Centre Court, narrowly escaping a loss to Fabio Fognini.

  • What he said: “It doesn’t matter that the winning streak that I have right now, that I’ve been playing great on grass, that I have been preparing really well the week before – Wimbledon is different,” Alcaraz said after the match. “I could feel today that I was really nervous at the beginning. Being the first match on Centre Court, it’s a huge privilege for me.”
  • And what he said: “I have to be honest, I cried in the locker room. I cried,” Fognini said later. “I didn’t expect [to] play five sets against him. I have to be honest. The way I was coming here, I [had] no expectation because since I started the year this year, after the injury, I was playing really bad. I didn’t win so many matches…”
  • Next: Alcaraz plays British qualifier Oliver Tarvet. Fognini intended to play more this season, but now he says this match against Alcaraz just might have been the perfect way to go out.

🎾 Suspended: Monday’s play ended with four matches suspended due to light and/or curfew, with play to resume on Tuesday. But none was more controversial than the Taylor Fritz vs. Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard match right before the fifth set was to begin. Facing an 11:00 pm curfew, the match was suspended at 10:18 pm.

  • Play. No, stop: Fritz, who had all the momentum after winning the third and fourth sets, made it clear that he wanted to continue, arguing that there was plenty of time. Meanwhile, Mpetshi Perricard, for any number of reasons (loss of momentum, feeling fatigued, concerned the fifth set might not get finished in time, etc.), voted to pause.
  • By the numbers: The previous sets lasted 44 minutes, 48 minutes, 33 minutes, and 45 minutes.
  • A wise choice?: Mpetshi Perricard may come to regret that he got his way, as he will lose his greatest advantage when play resumes on Tuesday — a closed roof that helped him log 33 aces and 74 winners.
  • The rule: The curfew is “a planning condition applied to balance the consideration of local residents with the scale of an international tennis event that takes place in a residential area,” Wimbledon said in 2018, when that thrilling semifinal between Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic had to be suspended.

🎾 A match we’re not missing: It might not be the match of the day, but we’ll be watching Petra Kvitova at Wimbledon today as she takes on Emma Navarro in the first round, for it might be her last. When she won in 2011, I was in Dublin, Ireland, covering a Google gathering of 80 former violent extremists for The Washington Post. Taking breaks from those intense sessions for a bit of normalcy helped me cope with some of the most desperate human stories I’ve ever heard. Petra Kvitova shining through was part of that experience for me, and I look forward to at least one more day of her smiling on the lawns of Wimbledon today.

And, that’s game.

What They Said

Why not play like this every day, win millions, be rich? ... No, he decides to do it once a year.

-Daniil Medvedev during his first-round loss to Benjamin Bonzi.

Watch This!

🔥 Sofia Kenin vs. Taylor Townsend (1st round - Wimbledon): Watch this match for the contrast of styles (Kenin The Counterpuncher vs. Townsend The Attacker) between two players who know each other well. Neither one is coming into the match with the strongest form, which sets up that much more of a fascinating battle. The outcome will likely be determined by how well Townsend serves.

  • The record: Sofia Kenin leads the head-to-head record over Taylor Townsend, 3-2. Kenin won their only meeting on grass during Wimbledon qualifying in 2023.
  • On the line: Neither player has any points to defend from last year’s Wimbledon, so this match is all about pride and getting something going this summer.
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On The Radar

More tennis matches we’re monitoring today:

Wimbledon - WTA (Grass)

  • Barbora Krejcikova vs. Alexandra Eala (1st round)
  • Dayana Yastremska vs. Coco Gauff (1st round)
  • Katerina Siniakova vs. Qinwen Zheng (1st round)
  • Clara Tauson vs. Heather Watson (1st round)
  • Petra Kvitova vs. Emma Navarro (1st round)
  • Maya Joint vs. Liudmila Samsonova (1st round)
  • Caty McNally vs. Jodie Burrage (1st round)
  • Camila Osorio vs. Danielle Collins (1st round)
  • Caroline Dolehide vs. Arantxa Rus (1st round)
  • Hailey Baptiste vs. Sorana Cirstea (1st round)
  • Alycia Parks vs. Belinda Bencic (1st round)

Wimbledon - ATP (Grass)

  • Arthur Rinderknech vs. Alexander Zverev (TBF - 1st round)
  • Taylor Fritz vs. Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard (TBF - 1st round)
  • Ben Shelton vs. Alex Bolt (1st round)
  • Grigor Dimitrov vs. Yoshihito Nishioka (1st round)
  • Dan Evans vs. Jay Clarke (1st round)
  • Gael Monfils vs. Ugo Humbert (1st round)
  • Alex Michelsen vs. Miomir Kecmanovic (1st round)
  • Jesper de Jong vs. Chris Eubanks (1st round)
  • Francisco Comesana vs. Corentin Moutet (1st round)
  • Brandon Nakashima vs. Yunchaokete Bu (1st round)

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

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