👋 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.

On tap today, we’ve got: Iga withdraws from Billie Jean King Cup, Sabalenka is more dominant than we realize, Emma Navarro takes on Hailey Baptiste, plus more in tennis news.

Let’s tennis!

Three Points

🎾 A tough call: Iga Swiatek announced on Wednesday that she will not play in Billie Jean King Cup next week when Poland hosts Switzerland and Ukraine.

  • What she said: “I have made a difficult decision. I know that this is not the information that fans, especially Polish ones, wanted, nevertheless it is the right decision for me right now,” she posted on Instagram. “I always represent my country with pride. I played everything there was to play for the country last year.” She added: “Now it’s time for more balance, focusing on myself and my training.”
  • What it says: This is the same message Swiatek has been urging for years: Fix the schedule. But now there’s a different level of urgency for Iga as she goes into her strongest season with the most points to defend.

🎾 THE numbers game: When the rankings came out on Monday, it highlighted exactly how dominant Aryna Sabalenka has become on the women’s tour. For the first time in her career, she broke the 10,000-point threshold — something only three other women (Ash Barty, Iga Swiatek, Serena Williams) have done in the last decade. Sabalenka entered the Miami Open with 9,606 points and replaced the 65 points from her 2024 early exit with 1,000 points from winning the title this year, totaling 10,541 points.

  • The gap: But it’s not just breaking the 10,000-point threshold that’s impressive — it’s the gap ahead of everyone else. Sabalenka is now 3,071 points ahead of number two, Iga Swiatek. And she’s sitting on more than double the points of the number five player in the world, Madison Keys.
  • Looking ahead: The gap could widen in the upcoming months as Swiatek comes into her strongest season and has the most points to defend.

🎾 We’re talkin’ here: Citing multiple sources, The Athletic is reporting that Andre Agassi is set to become a studio commentator for TNT Sport for Roland-Garros this year. “Agassi is expected to be part of the coverage toward the end of the network’s presentation with a featured spot during the semifinals and finals,” per the report. UPDATE: TNT Sports has confirmed the reporting with their own press release.

  • Most recently: Agassi acted as a commentator during the Netflix Slam match between Carlos Alcaraz and Rafael Nadal. The general consensus among tennis fans was that he had fascinating insights, but didn’t know when to let the live tennis be the star of the show.