👋 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.

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Today’s tennis mood rating is: Injured with a side of cranky.

Let’s tennis!

Three Points

🎾 Alcaraz claims another: Carlos Alcaraz defeated Taylor Fritz in the final of the Japan Open on Tuesday, 6-4, 6-4.

  • What he said: “It’s been my best season so far without a doubt,” Alcaraz said after the match. “That shows how hard I’ve worked just to be able to experience these moments and accomplish my goals.” He added: “I didn’t start the year that good, struggling emotionally, so how I came back from that, I’m just really proud of myself, and of all the people around me who have helped me to be in this position.”
  • By the numbers: Alcaraz is 67-7 on the year.
  • Noteworthy: Fritz had no answers for Alcaraz’s game, which became exacerbated when he went off the court after the first set for left leg treatment, which was then wrapped in the second set.
  • Yes, but: It was still a testy affair for Alcaraz, who got snippy with chair umpire Fergus Murphy over starting the serve clock, barking, “Do you think it’s normal that I finish a long point at the net and then barely have time to go for the balls, with no time to rest? Do you think it’s normal or not? OK, you’ve never played tennis in your life.”

🎾 Who’s mind games? 🤔: Belinda Bencic must have lost her mind during her 4th round match against Coco Gauff on Tuesday. During the intense battle that ended in a victory for Gauff, 4-6, 7-6, 6-2, Bencic lost her cool and created drama that simply wasn’t there (yes, we know...it’s not the first time). In the second set, the Swiss told Gauff’s team to “shut up,” accusing them of chanting after she missed a first serve. And then during a discussion with the chair umpire, Bencic sniped at Gauff, “No one’s talking to you, she’s talking to me, okay? Your team is chanting! I’m too old for these mind games!”

  • The high road, again: “I treat your team with respect, you treat my team with respect,” Gauff said during the match. After the match, Gauff was calm about the situation, saying, “She’s entitled to how she felt, and I’m entitled to how I respond.”
  • Noteworthy: With her win over Bencic, Gauff has qualified for the year-end WTA Tour Finals.

🎾 No robots: Defying the norm of electronic line calling, Roland-Garros will continue to use line judges in 2026, the French Tennis Federation announced on Monday, saying the tournament will “continue to highlight the excellence of French refereeing, recognized throughout the world, and which brings complete satisfaction to the organization of the tournament.” Last year, the tournament employed more than 400 line judges, nearly three-quarters of them from France. As The Athletic pointed out earlier this year, ELC on clay didn’t exactly go according to plan.