👋 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 Miami Open opening day, Iga Swiatek reluctantly explains herself, Djokovic has shown up in Miami, Petra Kvitova takes on Sofia Kenin, plus more tennis news.

Let’s tennis!

Three Points

🎾 The Court Theory Miami Open Guide: Check out our preview of this year’s Miami Open to learn everything you need to know to enjoy the next two weeks of action from Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.

🎾 Iga gets candid: Iga Swiatek somewhat reluctantly took to social media to explain what happened in her semifinal match at Indian Wells, resulting in the crowd booing her. In a display of frustration, she slammed a ball down that a ball person had just bounced to her. At the time, it was unclear if she was knocking it at him or up at her box. Either way, the crowd didn’t like it. However, like most things in life, what transpired is about more than a single moment.

  • What she said: “It’s true – I expressed frustration in a way I’m not proud of. My intention was never to aim the ball at anyone but merely to release my frustration by bouncing it on the ground. I immediately apologized to the ball boy, we made eye contact, and nodded to each other when I expressed regret that it happened near him,” Swiatek wrote. “I’ve seen many players bounce balls in frustration, and frankly, I didn’t expect such harsh judgments. Usually, I control such impulses, so half-jokingly I can say I lack experience in this and misjudged my aim in the heat of the moment.”
  • Feeling like you can’t win: “When I’m highly focused and don’t show many emotions on court, I’m called a robot, my attitude labeled as inhuman. Now that I’m more expressive, showing feelings or struggling internally, I’m suddenly labeled immature or hysterical,” Swiatek wrote.
  • The reality: “That’s not a healthy standard – especially considering that just six months ago, I felt my career was hanging by a thread, spent three weeks crying daily, and didn’t want to step on the court...The second half of last year was extremely challenging for me, especially due to the positive doping test and how circumstances completely beyond my control took away my chance to fight for the highest sport goals at the end of the season.”

🎾 In the 305: Novak Djokovic is back in Miami and practicing on-site at Hard Rock Stadium. If he plays this year, it will be the first time since 2019 that the former world number one has competed at the 1000-level event. On the other hand, he’s shown up to The Magic City before to take in basketball games and to fulfill sponsor obligations while skipping out on the tournament. What will happen this year? That’s anybody’s guess. But his newest coach, Andy Murray, has a particular affinity for Miami, having lived much of his competing life there.