👋 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.
Let’s tennis!
Three Points
🎾 Filthy in Buenos Aires: Joao Fonseca won his first ATP Tour title on Sunday in Buenos Aires by defeating Argentine Francisco Cerundolo. For nearly two hours, he played some of the best tennis we’ve seen this year thus far. What’s so incredible about Joao Fonseca is not just how good he is at 18 years old but how quickly he transitioned from the juniors to the top level of the ATP Tour. He’s rapidly marching to the top 50 after winning this week in Buenos Aires. Now up to number 68.
🎾 Doubling up: Miomir Kecmanovic, the Serbian player who can pull off the biggest wins and log some of the most baffling losses, strung together five solid matches to take home the title in Delray Beach on Sunday. Along the way, he notched wins over Marcos Giron and Alex Michelsen before defeating Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the final (staving off two match points in the third set). Then, as if that wasn’t enough, he pulled off a repeat performance in doubles with Brandon Nakashima as his partner. Kecmanovic pulled Viktor Troicki into his camp this year. Is this the missing piece?
🎾 Hold on, hold on: The British press is falling all over themselves to celebrate Emma Raducanu’s first-round win over Maria Sakkari in Dubai on Sunday. It’s somewhat understandable after losing four straight first-round matches and a number of wild cards. But let’s give it a rest. There’s little doubt that much of her spotty performances have to do with the immense pressure she feels from the media at home, even if there are plenty of self-inflicted unforced errors at play, too.
