👋 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: Popcorn-ready with a hint of trepidation.
Let’s tennis!
Three Points
🎾 Down to four: It’s semifinals day at the WTA Tour Finals after a wild last day of round robin play in Riyadh. That’s four singles players and four doubles teams trying to make it to the finals on Saturday. There isn’t a bad match on the docket (full list below), but we here at Court Theory HQ are most compelled by the Aryna Sabalenka vs. Amanda Anisimova match-up. The WTA has the full rundown on today’s action.
🎾 Musetti marches closer: Lorenzo Musetti has moved one step closer to qualifying for the ATP Tour Finals after defeating Alexandre Muller, 6-2, 6-4. It was a welcome routine match after going three sets with Stan Wawrinka the day before.
What he said: “A better match, a better start also compared to yesterday. The key was today, I served really, really good,” Musetti said after the match. “That gave me the confidence with the game to be more aggressive, especially with the forehand. That’s what I need to do in this kind of surface.”
Next: Musetti plays Sebastian Korda in the semifinals on Friday.
🎾 Programming note: There’s a Court Theory surprise coming on Monday, so be sure to keep your eyes (and ears 🤭) open for an announcement in The Daily Theory and on social media.
And, that’s game.
On The Radar
Matches we’re monitoring today:
Riyadh - WTA Tour Finals (Hard)
Jessica Pegula vs. Elena Rybakina (Semifinals)
Aryna Sabalenka vs. Amanda Anisimova (Semifinals)
Hsieh/Ostapenka vs. Babos/Stefani (Semifinals)
Kudermetova/Mertens vs. Siniakova/Townsend (Semifinals)
Metz - ATP 250 (Hard)
Cameron Norrie vs. Lorenzo Sonego (Semifinals)
Vitaly Sachko vs. Learner Tien (Semifinals)
Athens - ATP 250 (Hard)
Novak Djokovic vs. Yannick Hanfmann (Semifinals)
Sebastian Korda vs. Lorenzo Musetti (Semifinals)
📺 Learn how to watch today’s action over at Tennis Watchers.
Read, Watch, Listen
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For our friends at Racquet, Sebastian Varela has the beautiful story of how a tennis academy has come to the aid of the youth — and its founder — in Chile, where resources are few.
This is how Amanda Anisimova’s coach explains her rise.
The Tennis Podcast gets a (nearly) two-hour sitdown with Jack Draper, and he goes deep on a lot of hard questions.
Nick Kyrgios says the pressure is on ahead of the Battle of the Sexes against Aryna Sabalenka in his signature way: defensively and with a chip on his shoulder.
In Riyadh, the players are still pushing for the majors to return to the compensation discussions that began six months ago.
The ATP and Lexus are sticking together.
Jelena Ostapenko on her chemistry with Hsieh Su-Wei: “We both are cuckoo!”
