👋 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: the Indian Wells semifinals are set, a special birthday celebration for Coco Gauff, John Feinstein dies at 69, and more tennis news.
Let’s tennis!
Three Points
🎾 Semifinal set-up: Carlos Alcaraz defeated Francisco Cerundolo in straight sets, setting up a semifinal match-up against Jack Draper, who defeated Ben Shelton, also in straight sets. The other semifinal was settled by Daniil Medvedev defeating Arthur Fils and Holger Rune taking down Tallon Griekspoor. The men have today off, and semifinal action will take place on Saturday. (The full rundown on today’s women’s semifinals is below.)
🎾 A special birthday message: Yesterday was Coco Gauff’s 21st birthday, and New Balance released her new shoe with an ad narrated by her grandmother and civil rights activist, Yvonne Lee Odom. It’s a message about moments, place, and people – and it warrants watching a few times to truly grasp what Odom is telling us.
🎾 In memoriam: John Feinstein, one of the country’s finest sports writers and the author of many bestselling books, died unexpectedly on Thursday at 69. Among that list of books is Hard Courts, a deep dive into the 1990 season on the ATP and WTA tours. He wasn’t beloved by all. “He was very passionate about things,” as his brother Robert Feinstein put it. “People either loved him or hated him – and equally strongly.” Still, his mark on generations of sports fans and journalists is undeniable, and this is a loss.
