👋 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!

Four Points

🎾 Sustained attacking style: Reilly Opelka had some choice words for chair umpire Greg Allensworth during and after his three-set, second-round win over Cameron Norrie on Thursday. Serving at 5-4, 30-all, Opelka became annoyed by somebody in the crowd who was coughing as he waited to serve. “You doing it on f****** purpose or what? Go the f*** inside buddy,” Opelka barked at the spectator. That earned him a code violation, which translated into a point penalty, giving Norrie a point to break back. Then things really went off the rails. Eventually, Opelka won the match and skipped shaking hands with Allensworth, while giving him thumbs down. It didn’t stop there. After the match, Opelka described him as “bush league” and “amateur hour” before suggesting the ATP should suspend him. He had much more to say about Allensworth, and The Athletic caught it all.

🎾 The worst scheduling predicament: Madison Keys has withdrawn from the Dubai Duty Free Championships, citing a leg injury. The decision couldn’t have been an easy one, given the opportunity to rack up some more points at a 1000 event. But her call must’ve been doubly difficult, knowing she won’t have any tournament play between the Australian Open and round one of Indian Wells thanks to her expulsion from Austin.

🎾 A bad day at the office for Americans: The best chance of getting an American through to the next round on Thursday was having another American across the net. In Dallas alone, Frances Tiafoe lost to Yoshihito Nishioka, Ben Shelton lost to Jaume Munar, Michael Mmoh lost to Casper Ruud, and top-seeded Taylor Fritz lost to Denis Shapovalov. In tough three-setters, Tommy Paul took down American upstart Ethan Quinn, and as previously mentioned, Reilly Opelka defeated Cameron Norrie. On the women’s side, Peyton Stearns, the third seed at Cluj-Napoca, lost in straight sets to Lucia Bronzetti. And, Caroline Dolehide put up a valiant effort against the fifth seed Katerina Siniakova before losing 6-4 in the third set.

🎾 From the Department of Can’t Catch a Break: Canada’s Bianca Andreescu has delayed the start to her 2025 season once again after pulling out of the Merida Open because of an emergency appendectomy. “The surgery went smoothly, and I’m on the road to recovery. My plan is to be back on the court for the clay season, stronger than ever,” she posted on Instagram. Andreescu cited personal reasons for withdrawing from the Auckland Open and Australian Open.