👋 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.

Let’s tennis!

Three Points

🎾 A fuller picture: The Athletic’s Matt Futterman and Charlie Eccleshare have tracked down a number of disturbing details surrounding the ongoing case of Elena Rybakina and her coach Stefano Vukov. As expected, the fuller picture gives a more chilling account of what has gone down in that relationship — something that everyone in Rybakina’s life noticed, except Rybakina herself.

🎾 Djokovic on Sinner: At a pre-tournament press conference in Doha, Novak Djokovic was asked to share his thoughts on the outcome of the Jannik Sinner-WADA deal struck last week. He answered as senior statesman and the head of PTPA, the pro player pseudo-union, noting that there is a general “lack of trust” of all of the agencies involved among players thanks to behind-closed-doors deals that appear to be unavailable to rank and file players.

  • What he said: “It’s not a good image for our sport, that’s for sure,” Djokovic said. “A majority of the players don’t feel that it’s fair. A majority of the players feel like there is favoritism happening. It appears that you can almost affect the outcome if you are a top player, if you have access to the top lawyers and whatnot.”
  • What’s next: As far as Djokovic is concerned, it’s time for the PTPA to play an influential role in forcing the many anti-doping agencies into creating a true and transparent process.

🎾 Problems in Doha: Players on the WTA Tour who played in Doha last week are wondering what happened to their welcome gifts from tournament organizers. In previous years, all players received gifts upon arrival. This year, it was a water bottle. But what’s angering the women on the tour is that the men who are playing in Doha this week all received the newest iPhones.

  • What players are saying: “My problem isn’t the gift; it’s the disparity especially given the level of events,” Ellen Perez posted on X, noting that the WTA event is a 1000-level tournament, while the ATP event is a 500-level. “I never think I deserve a gift but if you set the men’s standard high in a lower event, it’s hard to not feel hard done by for the women.”