👋 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: Fulfilled but wanting more.
Let’s tennis!
Four Points
🎾 No tennis: Today is the first day in 2025 in which there’s no pro tennis. Not at the tour-level, anyway. Yes, we have the Davis Cup Finals starting tomorrow, and the Next Gen Finals and some exhibitions are still to come. But if you’re missing the kind of play that involves points and prize money, the ATP Challenger Tour still has a couple of weeks to go before the season wraps up. And, at these tournaments, you’ll see some of the most dramatic battles all year as dozens of players, who are on the bubble of either making the Australian Open main draw or qualifying, fight for a strong start to their 2026 season. Did we mention you can watch for free?
🎾 Another Sincaraz final in the books: The final match of the year was exactly the one it was supposed to be: Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner battling for the biggest title outside of the majors. It was Sinner who, on his favorite surface and before a home crowd, won this one, 7-6, 7-5. The only bone to pick was the feeling that we were owed three sets instead of two.
What he said: “It was an incredible season,” Sinner said after the match. “To finish it this way, before my Italian fans, is very special for me.”
And what he said: “I’m really happy with the level that I played today, with the performance,” Alcaraz said during the trophy presentation. “I just played against someone that hasn’t lost a match on an indoor court since two years. I hope you’re going to be ready for next year because I will be ready. Hopefully playing more finals against you.”
The numbers: It really is Alcaraz and Sinner — and then everyone else. The final tally on the season is Alcaraz with 12,050 points, Jannik Sinner with 11,500 points, and, in a very distant third with less than half the points, Alexander Zverev at 5,160 points.
More: Catch the post-match press conferences.
🎾 One Heliova team: The team of Harri Heliovaara and Henry Patten won their first ATP Tour Finals trophy, defeating Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski in the final, 7-5, 6-3. Although Heliovaara and Patten lost to Salisbury and Skupski in the round-robin, the pair never once dropped serve the entire tournament.
What he said: “It is hard to describe,” Heliovaara said. “The whole week I have looked at the list of winners, with huge winners and I thought, if there was ever going to be my name on that, I am going to be so proud. To be there next to Henry is unreal.”
And what he said: “The tennis is pretty good, but the engagement was something special,” Patten said, who took the occasion of Turin to propose to his longtime girlfriend. “It has been a complete dream for me. Ellie has been here supporting me all week. I am a very happy guy right now. I feel unbelievably lucky to have a partner like her and a partner like Harri.”
🎾 United Cup draw: Just one day after the end of the tour-level season, organizers in Australia held the draw ceremony for the 2026 edition of the United Cup. Here’s how the groups broke down for next year’s kick-off team event (and here are the team rosters).
Perth
Group A: USA, Spain, Argentina
Group C: Italy, France, Switzerland
Group E: Britain, Greece, Japan
Sydney
Group B: Canada, Belgium, China
Group D: Australia, Czechia, Norway
Group F: Germany, Poland, Netherlands
And, that’s game.
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