👋 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!

Today’s tennis mood rating: Optimism with a touch of anticipation.

Let’s tennis!

Four Points

🎾 In Riyadh: If you were off doing weekend things over the last couple of days, you may have missed the opening days of the WTA Tour Finals. The big takeaways were: Jessica Pegula came away with a solid win over defending champ Coco Gauff, Iga Swiatek absolutely demolished Madison Keys, and Elena Rybakina did similarly to Amanda Anisimova. Today’s matches should be quite fascinating. Check out the line-up below.

🎾 Sinner’s a winner: At the Paris Masters on Sunday, Felix Auger-Aliassime put up a valiant effort against a seemingly unbeatable Jannik Sinner in the final. The Italian took the match 6-4, 7-6, but it was an impressive week for the Canadian, keeping him in contention for the final spot in the ATP Tour Finals in Turin.

  • What he said: “It’s huge, honestly, it was such an intense final, and we both knew what was on the line,” Sinner said after the match. “I’m extremely happy, the past couple of months have been amazing. We try to work on things, and seeing this result makes me incredibly happy. Another title this year… It’s been an amazing year regardless of what comes in Turin.”
  • And what he said: “It was difficult on the court having to sit there rethinking a few points,” Auger-Aliassime said after the final. “But when it’s over, you just have to accept that. I wish I had a better start, I wish I didn’t make those mistakes to start the match with, I can’t give him that at the level he plays. I wish I would have been able to find a way to put more pressure on his serve. But he was serving great, coming up with great serves every time. I have to move on and focus on the positives.”
  • Self-assessment: “For me, it’s not a huge gap. I’m getting closer every match we play against each other,” Auger-Aliassime said. “This match was more tight. At the U.S. Open, I managed to win a set and lost the first and the fourth in a difficult way...But what we saw today was that it was close. Everything was on the quality of his serve, the quality of his return game. Hats off to him on that point. There’s a part of me that says ‘There are moments where I could play better.’ I’m still a bit sour for some moments of the match.”
  • Next: Sinner takes a break and regroups ahead of Turin, which begins on Monday. Auger-Aliassime waits to find out if he’s made the cut for the final spot — or if that belongs to Lorenzo Musetti. There’s a chance they both get in. But that lies in the hands of Novak Djokovic, who has been noncommittal for the year-end championships.

🎾 Remember this name: Janice Tjen. Seemingly from nowhere, Tjen of Indonesia began 2025 outside the top 400. She’s ending it just outside the top 50 after capping off her year by winning the 250 title in Chennai, defeating Australia’s Kimberly Birrell, 6-4, 6-3.

  • What she said: “I’m very happy to be able to get the win this time because it was a heartbreaking loss the previous time,” Tjen said after the match. “I got to the final in Sao Paulo WTA 250, but luckily today, I came out on the better end.”
  • The backstory: It’s not just a story about a player from a country with little success in tennis, although it is that, too. It’s another testament to the important role of college tennis in preparing players with a pathway to pro tennis after Tjen began her college career at Oregon and ended at Pepperdine. “Tennis is a very expensive sport where you have to travel and then you have to hire a coach,” Tjen said. “All of these expenses add up, and it’s not easy for me and my family. Luckily, there’s a college route that helped me to continue to develop my game and put myself in a better position to turn pro.”
  • The big picture: “I think my message would be don’t lose hope,” she said. “It’s like for me, I always try to put myself in the best position to be able to compete to the highest level and never stop believing, and hopefully like there will be like a chance, a pathway for other young players to be able to compete like in the highest level as well.”

🎾 Second title: Victoria Mboko put to rest the questions about her ability to repeat her performance in Montreal by taking the title in Hong Kong on Sunday. She outlasted Cristina Bucsa 7-5, 6-7, 6-2 in the final.

  • What she said: “Today I feel like it was such high quality tennis from Cristina,” Mboko said the match. “Even when she was down in the match, she was able to come back and play some amazing shots. I had to really stay in there with her and try my best to bring out my full power. I want to give huge credit to her.” She added: “I will admit it was a little bit painful [to lose the second set] – but that's tennis for you. It happens...The best thing you can do is just regroup. If I was to dwell on it too much, it would’ve affected me too much to play well in the third set, so I’m glad I was able to let it go.”
  • Noteworthy: At two hours and 49 minutes, it was the longest tour-level final of 2025.
  • The numbers: After beginning the year ranked No. 333, Mboko lands inside the top 20 at 18 following her win in Hong Kong.