👋 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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Let’s tennis!

Three Points

🎾 Taylor steps in it: Taylor Townsend has issued an apology after posting a series of videos on Instagram in which she makes insensitive and disparaging comments about food at a buffet in China while at a dinner with her Billie Jean King Cup teammates in Shenzhen.

  • What she said: “I just wanted to come on here and apologize sincerely from the bottom of my heart,” said Townsend. “[It’s] one of the things that I love so much about what I do, and I have had nothing but the most amazing experience in time here and the tournament.” She added: “Everyone has been so kind and so gracious. And the things that I said were not representative of that at all. And I just truly wanted to apologize. There’s no excuse. There are no words. And for me, I just, I will be better.”
  • Noteworthy: The comments on their own are bad enough. Worse? Making them about a host country while you’re representing your own country.

🎾 Sabalenka out: Aryna Sabalenka has pulled out of next week’s China Open in Beijing, tournament organizers announced Tuesday, citing a “minor injury.” No word directly from the Sabalenka camp on what that is.

  • Why it matters: Sabalenka is firmly in the number one slot, with more than 3000 points ahead of Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff. Unless that “minor injury” turns out to be something more significant that keeps her from competition the rest of the year, she should remain ahead of the competition for 2025. But! If Swiatek and/or Gauff close that gap, it would make for a very interesting start to 2026 — especially with Sabalenka having so many points to defend immediately in January.
  • Next: Sabalenka is scheduled to play in the WTA 1000 Wuhan Open next month.

🎾 Qualified: The first three doubles teams have qualified for the WTA Finals in Riyadh. Taylor Townend and Katerina Siniakova, Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini, and Gaby Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe have all qualified for the 2025 edition.

  • What she said: “Doubles is such a huge and important part of our sport,” said WTA Finals Tournament Director Garbine Muguruza. “Qualifying in this format for the WTA Finals is a great honor, it means your team has been consistent, strong and fearless all year. To be one of the first to qualify shows the hard work is paying off.”
  • Who’s next: Check out the Race to the WTA Finals standings.

And, that’s game.

On The Radar

Matches we’re monitoring today:

Seoul - WTA 500 (Hard)

  • Lois Boisson vs. Ekaterina Alexandrova (2nd round)
  • Iga Swiatek vs. Sorana Cirstea (2nd round)
  • Katerina Siniakova vs. Daria Kasatkina (2nd round)
  • Diana Shnaider vs. Suzan Lamens (2nd round)

Hangzhou - ATP 250 (Hard)

  • Matteo Berrettini vs. Dalibor Svrcina (1st round)
  • Nishesh Basavareddy vs. Marin Cilic (1st round)
  • Yunchaokete Bu vs. Zhizhen Zhang (1st round)
  • Adam Walton vs. Sebastian Korda (1st round)
  • Arthur Cazaux vs. Matteo Arnaldi (1st round)

Chengdu - ATP 250 (Hard)

  • Filip Misolic vs. Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard (1st round)
  • Taro Daniel vs. Coleman Wong (1st round)
  • Alexander Shevchenko vs. Gael Monfils (1st round)
  • Terence Atmane vs. Dino Prizmic (1st round)
  • Jordan Thompson vs. Alejandro Tabilo (1st round)
  • Mackenzie McDonald vs. Botic van de Zandschulp (1st round)

*Laver Cup begins later in the week.

📺 Learn how to watch today’s action over at Tennis Watchers.

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Read, Watch, Listen

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  • It hasn’t dropped as of publishing this edition of The Daily Theory, but the Venus and Serena podcast on X launches today. Be on the lookout over on the X Originals page.
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