👋 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: Hyped with an undertone of cringe.
Let’s tennis!
Three Points
🎾 Day six: It’s the last day of round-robin play in the WTA Tour Finals. Three players are competing for the two semifinal spots (sorry, Jasmine Paolini), while one doubles slot is up for grabs. The WTA has the full rundown on today’s action.
🎾 Torino is coming: The draw is out for the ATP Tour Finals in Turin. With play to begin on Sunday, the same day as the WTA Tour Finals (😐), here’s how that shook out...
Singles:Jimmy Connors Group: Carlos Alcaraz (1), Novak Djokovic (4), Taylor Fritz (6), Alex de Minaur (7)
Bjorn Borg Group: Jannik Sinner (2), Alexander Zverev (3), Ben Shelton (5), Felix Auger-Aliassime or Lorenzo Musetti (8)
Doubles: Peter Fleming Group: Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool (1), Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos (3), Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz (6), Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori (7)
John McEnroe Group: Harri Heliovaara and Henry Patten (2), Marcelo Arevalo and Mate Pavic (4), Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski(5), Christian Harrison and Evan King (8)
Yes, but: Is Djokovic even playing? The truth is, we don’t know. Yes, officials in Italy said they had confirmation. But, as I pointed out earlier this week, tournament officials have made this mistake before — and without Djokovic himself confirming his participation, we should take that all with a grain of salt.
What he said: “I don’t know where he got that information from,” Djokovic said in Greece on Wednesday. “Definitely not from me or my team. I will decide at the end of this tournament.”
🎾 Another content deal: After revealing details earlier this week about its content partnership with TikTok, on Thursday, the ATP announced another content deal with Spotify. According to an ATP press release, the arrangement will focus on fan engagement and on-platform programming. To start, that will translate into a documentary series on this month’s ATP Tour Finals.
What he said: “Spotify is a best-in-class platform with a passionate, global audience, and we’re thrilled to bring ATP storytelling to life through this collaboration,” said Andrew Walker, senior vice president of brand and marketing for the ATP. “This partnership enables us to create new content experiences that resonate with fans, showcase our athletes in fresh ways, and invite new audiences into the sport.”
And what he said: “Fans today want to connect with the moments and personalities that define sport,” said Roman Wasenmüller, vice president and head of podcasts at Spotify. “Teaming up with the ATP is about giving fans deeper access to the stories and energy that make tennis one of the world’s most compelling sports.”
Why it matters: The ATP is taking bigger and broader steps in controlling all aspects of coverage of the ATP Tour, not just in terms of narratives, but the actual products themselves. Expect the current sheen to become shinier.
Flashback: Anybody remember ATP Radio? It was the ATP’s audio programming that was truly insightful. It was quietly killed almost exactly two years ago with no warning or explanation.
And, that’s game.
On The Radar
Matches we’re monitoring today:
Riyadh - WTA Tour Finals (Hard)
Elena Rybakina vs. Ekaterina Alexandrova (Round Robin)
Iga Swiatek vs. Amanda Anisimova (Round Robin)
Errani/Paolini vs. Kudermetova/Mertens (Round Robin)
Hsieh/Ostapenko vs. Muhammad/Schuurs (Round Robin)
Metz - ATP 250 (Hard)
Lorenzo Sonego vs. Daniel Altmaier (Quarterfinals)
Learner Tien vs. Matteo Berrettini (Quarterfinals)
Athens - ATP 250 (Hard)
Miomir Kecmanovic vs. Sebastian Korda (Quarterfinals)
Alexandre Muller vs. Lorenzo Musetti (Quarterfinals)
Novak Djokovic vs. Nuno Borges (Quarterfinals)
Marcos Giron vs. Yannick Hanfmann (Quarterfinals)
📺 Learn how to watch today’s action over at Tennis Watchers.
Read, Watch, Listen
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At The Athletic, Matt Futterman covers Amanda Anisimova’s thrilling comeback against Iga Swiatek, which boosted her into the WTA Tour Finals.
Stan Wawrinka was two points away from ending Lorenzo Musetti’s chances of qualifying for the ATP Tour Finals, which was both exciting and telling.
Katerina Siniakova clinches the year-end world number one ranking.
The ATP sits down for an insightful Q&A with Novak Djokovic.
Andre Agassi and IBM have agreed to some kind of vague partnership to bring AI and racquet sports together. If you can parse this out, drop a line, would you?
A pair of solid former players got pinched in a wild card buying scheme.
