👋 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.

New to Court Theory? Sign up for free!

Let’s tennis!

Three Points

🎾 Djokovic in Shanghai: Novak Djokovic is set to play the Masters 1000 event in Shanghai beginning later this month, according to tournament organizers. Although he played Shanghai last year, given his unusual scheduling this year, it wasn’t a given he’d return in 2025. Perhaps his comments earlier this month about how he fares against Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner at the majors have something to do with it...

  • What he said: “I do fancy my chances [against Alcaraz and Sinner] a bit more in best-of-three, I guess, one-week tournaments or the Masters tournaments, where you have almost two weeks with quite a few days between matches,” Djokovic said after the end of his U.S. Open bid. “So, you know, that could serve me better in the match-ups against them.”
  • Intriguing: Some are insisting his Shanghai appearance is to test this best-of-three theory. But Court Theory readers may recall another theory: Djokovic can’t measure up to the two best players on the planet in a best-of-five scenario if he’s skipping several Master 1000 events throughout the year. Not only is it Alcaraz and Sinner and then everyone else, it’s also Alcaraz and Sinner who are continually improving their games.

🎾 Hellohellohellohelloooo: Is there an echo in here? In The Daily Theory yesterday, we noted Beatriz Haddad Maia wrapping up her season early to let her body rest. On Tuesday, Elina Svitolina announced on social media that she, too, would be calling it a year.

  • What she said: “I haven’t been feeling like myself lately. I’m not in the right emotional space, and I don’t feel ready to play, so I am therefore ending the season here. Over the years, I’ve learned that this sport isn’t about money, fame, or rankings—it’s about being ready to fight and to give your all. Right now, I’m simply not at the level mentally or emotionally to do that,” she wrote.
  • Recently: In her last two tournaments — the U.S. Open and Cincinnati — Svitolina lost her first match in each, a sharp difference from making the quarterfinals of the Australian Open and Roland-Garros (as well as several 1000 events) this year.
  • Noteworthy: As it stands, Svitolina is 12th in the WTA Race rankings. With a strong Asian swing, she might’ve qualified for the WTA Tour Finals. But sometimes it’s just not worth the push.

🎾 The rivalry we deserve: Rivalries, even if the athletes involved don’t acknowledge it, make sport go ‘round. But when they do, that active participation fuels every bit of the competitive fantasy we look for as fans. And that’s why the Alcaraz-Sinner rivalry is like none other in tennis — and, indeed, sport. Okay, fine, it helps that they are one and two in the world, and that they are truly magical in their talents. But it’s also how they talk about each other during weeks they won’t even face each other.

  • What he said: “I know he’s going to change,” Alcaraz said on media day in Tokyo. “He is going to change something from the last match. It’s the same thing that I did when I lost to him a couple of times. I tried to be a better player. Next time I’m going to face him so I expect him to do the same thing to change a few things just to be ready and I have to be focused and I have to be ready for the changes.” He added: “I will try to overcome those changes [and] be ready for that rivalry. I think it’s getting better for me and for tennis. We will see in the future how many times I’m going to play against him and in which circumstances we would play. But I think right now it’s going great.”
  • And what he said: “We’ve been reflecting a lot on that final,” Sinner said in Beijing. “We are working on new things. We are changing a lot of small things. The amount of mistakes at the moment is for sure a little bit higher, but I hope that this recovers.” He added: “It’s just a question of time. I don’t know how much I’m able to [implement changes] on the actual match court because one thing is practice and one thing is match. Let’s see. I’m very motivated. It’s great to work on something new, then we see how this ends up. We always try to move forward. One step in front is always better than two steps back. Let’s see what we can do.”