👋 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
🎾 More (strange) change a-comin’: As previously noted in The Daily Theory, the ATP announced some significant changes to the 2026 calendar. But this year, Cincinnati, Toronto, and Montreal made some puzzling moves. Cincinnati has expanded from a 9-day event to 14 after keeping the finals on Monday and starting qualifying earlier. And, perhaps more baffling, Montreal and Toronto have expanded to a total of 14 days, with the finals on Thursday. Yes, you read that correctly. Thursday. Tennis own goals once again.
🎾 The managing mindset: After his first-round win in Dallas on Wednesday, Reilly Opelka gave some interesting insight into how he’s been forced into a “managing mindset” for his injuries since he returned to the tour last year — and at what expense that mindset comes. “I really want to get out of that mindset,” Opelka said. “I want to be focused on winning and playing my best tennis...It’s really important to make the most out of your practice days. You can’t do that if you’re managing your body, managing pain all the time. I really want to try to get on the other end of it and make those days off practice days, and not recovery days.”
🎾 Mixed up again?: Some players, coaches, and industry people are concerned about what the expanded U.S. Open schedule will do to the mixed doubles schedule at the final major of the year. In what is perhaps the most underutilized event at any of the slams, the U.S. Open — if reports are correct — could be wrecking it altogether by scheduling it during qualifying week and making it essentially an invitational event. What were we saying about own goaling again?
