👋 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
🎾 One final push: Here we are in the final week of preparation before Wimbledon, with events in Bad Homburg, Eastbourne, and Mallorca. Most players would prefer a week off before a major, but with just three weeks between the end of Roland-Garros and the start of Wimbledon, ain’t nobody got time for that. Here’s what the top players have on deck this week, including some who are just now playing their first grass events.
- Top ten WTA players in action: Jessica Pegula, Jasmine Paolini, Mirra Andreeva, Iga Swiatek, and Emma Navarro — all in Bad Homburg.
- Top ten ATP players in action: Ben Shelton (Mallorca); Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul (Eastbourne).
🎾 Meanwhile, at Roehampton: Wimbledon qualifying kicks off today on the grounds of Roehampton, where 128 men and 128 women will give it their best to land one of the 16 spots in each of the main draws. Men’s action begins today, and women’s matches start tomorrow. In the U.S., all of it can be watched on ESPN+.
🎾 Watch my handshake: There was a spicy moment at the net between Maria Sakkari and (you’ll never believe this) Yulia Putintseva. After Sakkari won their first-round match on Sunday at the Bad Homburg Open, she confronted Putintseva over her signature no-look handshake. That led Putintseva to respond with a mocking bow, to which Sakkari said: “Just be like a human being.”
- And then things went off the rails. “Go fuck yourself,” Putintseva replied. “Fucking hell, I’m what?” Sakkari shot back, adding: “Nobody likes you. When you shake hands, look at the other person in the eye.”
- Next: When asked about the incident during the on-court interview, Sakkari said: “Let me leave it here and say that I have a respect (for) her as a player but that’s it.”
- And after that: Putintseva took to social media to show instances in which Sakkari didn’t make eye contact while shaking hands at the net.
And, that’s game.
What They Said
I’m going to say it’s really complicated, [switching] from clay to grass in just a few days, because that’s the time I had before the tournament began. [I had] just two days of practicing and then I had to compete here...So I came here with no expectations at all. I just came here with a goal to play two, three matches, [trying] to feel great on grass moving, and give myself the feedback of what I had to improve, what I had to do better.
-Carlos Alcaraz after winning the title at Queen’s Club.
Watch This!
🔥 Learner Tien vs. Justin Engel (1st round - ATP 250 - Mallorca): Two hungry teenagers battling on grass? Yes, please. Watch for both players to problem-solve their way to a win on a surface that’s new to each of them. In particular, take note of how Tien’s game can be dangerous on grass, as he slides the ball around flat and sometimes with a bit of side spin — something that was a detriment during the clay season.
- The record: This will be the first meeting between Learner Tien and Justin Engel.
- On the line: There are no ranking points to defend. No worries about going into Wimbledon with total confidence. This match is all about pride — especially for Engel who is playing his first tour-level event outside Germany — which makes it that much more fun.
On The Radar
More tennis matches we’re monitoring today:
Bad Homburg - WTA 500 (Grass)
- Donna Vekic vs. Diana Shnaider (1st round)
- Naomi Osaka vs. Olga Danilovic (1st round)
- Liudmila Samsonova vs. Katerina Siniakova (1st round)
- Vika Azarenka vs. Laura Siegemund (1st round)
- Ajla Tomljanovic vs. Linda Noskova (1st round)
Eastbourne - WTA 250 (Grass)
- Daria Kasatkina vs. Lulu Sun (1st round)
- Maya Joint vs. Ons Jabeur (1st round)
- Francesca Jones vs. Greet Minnen (1st round)
Eastbourne - ATP 250 (Grass)
- Zizou Bergs vs. Joao Fonseca (1st round)
- Dan Evans vs. Miomir Kecmanovic (1st round)
- Fabian Marozsan vs. Lorenzo Sonego (1st round)
Mallorca - ATP 250 (Grass)
- Pedro Martinez vs. Corentin Moutet (1st round)
- Gabriel Diallo vs. Jaume Munar (1st round)
- Damir Dzumhur vs. Arthur Rinderknech (1st round)
- Nishesh Basavareddy vs. Hamad Medjedovic (1st round)
📺 Learn how to watch today’s action over at Tennis Watchers.
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Read, Watch, Listen
- Still only 25, Marketa Vondrousova has had the wildest trajectory of a career to get back to her winning ways. Be sure to catch the Q&A buried at the bottom.
- McCartney Kessler problem-solved her way to another title but on a new surface in Nottingham, putting her at a new career-high ranking of 32.
- Alexander Bublik put off retiring from tennis and made the quarters of Roland-Garros and won Halle, defeating Medvedev (which he had never done before).
- Casper Ruud and Arthur Fils are out of Wimbledon.
- Speaking of Wimbledon, Head put together quite the collection commemorating Arthur Ashe’s 1975 Wimbledon title.
- Former top 20 player Philipp Kohlschreiber has a new career in coaching 17-year-old Justin Engel — not a bad “first experience from the other side.”
