👋 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!

Five Points

🎾 Shutting it down: As if Daria Kasatkina doesn’t have enough headaches with Russia, a reported administrative error by Abu Dhabi tournament organizers temporarily listed Spain as the nationality of the world’s number eleven player. Kasatkina hasn’t been home in two-and-a-half years since coming out and calling into question the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which raised questions about the validity of the so-called mistake. A spokesperson for Kasatkina, recognizing the potential severity of the situation, hurried to put the discussion to rest, saying, “This carries some strong implications for Daria if the Russian authorities feel she is trying to switch — which she is not.”

🎾 And opening back up: Elena Rybakina has another new coach. Following the quick exit of Goran Ivanisevic during the Australian Open, Rybakina has added to her team Davide Sanguinetti — the former top 50 player, who was until recently coaching Brandon Nakashima. “We are working with Davide like just did one week of preparation and actually Stefano knew him a little bit and I knew him a little from before,” Rybakina said ahead of this week’s event in Abu Dhabi. Rybakina’s “We” refers to Stefano Vukov — the coach she fired and who was later suspended from the WTA Tour for what is largely understood to be abusive behavior toward Rybakina. He is now back in her camp.

🎾 Wild card is right: Former world number one Simona Halep is set to play at the WTA 250 event in her home country, Romania, this week. The 33-year-old is now 870 in the world and required a wild card to get into the main draw. She confessed to the Romanian sports outlet Golazo that retirement is on her mind. “The thought of retiring crosses my mind very often. I’ve reached an age where I have injuries that are hard to recover from,” she said. “My knee won’t heal completely – I was advised to undergo surgery, but it’s a complicated procedure, and I don’t think I will go through with it.”

🎾 Alcaraz enters the debate: When Patrick Mouratoglou started a debate last week on the Sinner vs. Alcaraz question, it was only a matter of time before media asked the two players to weigh in. Ahead of Rotterdam, Alcaraz gave his answer: “Jannik is the best right now,” Alcaraz told reporters. “He has lost only four or five matches in the past year, so it’s crazy. I know people say who’s better out of us. They say Jannik is better or some say me. It’s all discussion.”

🎾 One Gilles too many: Ahead of Rotterdam, Daniil Medvedev confirmed that former world number six Gilles Simon is no longer on his team. “Gilles joined the team just under a year ago, in February 2024. It was a good experience but it didn’t go as I would have hoped, especially in terms of results,” Medvedev said. He added: “There were many good things in our collaboration with Gilles, but we didn’t win any titles, Slams or anything like that. I’ve certainly learned a lot about tennis and I’m sure that all this will help me in the future.” Gilles Cevara, however, remains as Medvedev’s coach.