Emma Raducanu tries her hand at rugby, Piers Morgan apologises to Novak Djokovic and Aryna Sabalenka heads on holiday

The Daily Dose of Social Media returns for another day with the usual entertainment both from the court and off it now that the off-season for the WTA stars in particular is in full swing.

Emma Raducanu tried out rugby, Aryna Sabalenka gave herself that holiday to the Maldives and Novak Djokovic received an apology from Piers Morgan in a bombshell interview.

While Andy Murray tried his hand at table tennis with the great comedian, Romesh Ranganathan, Emma Raducanu was trying something on a sports field this past day.

Emma Raducanu albeit with white trousers on a green grass sports field was a disaster waiting to happen playing rugby, she was suited in an England Rugby coat and was held up by two of their players for a line-out (rugby's version of a throw in).

Raducanu is enjoying her off season ahead of the 2026 season. It has been up and down for the Brit who has shown real smatterings of the form that led her to become US Open champion but also left the Asian swing struggling with the conditions and just overall not herself. She is now back in the UK preparing for 2026 with a rugby lesson too.

Novak Djokovic was interviewed on Piers Morgan Uncensored and after a previous issue between the pair, Morgan offered his apologies for his slamming of Djokovic around the COVID-19 scandal.

Djokovic was deported from Australia and the subject of being tarred as anti-vax, a view point that he discerned from throughout and one that he still does now. To start their interview which also included chatter about Jannik Sinner, Morgan offered his apologies.

"I was very censorious about you over the Covid scandal that you got caught up in. In a nutshell, you got thrown out of Australia over what seemed, on the face of it, from what the media were saying and reporting, to be you trying to bend the rules to get into playing the Australian Open without having taken the Covid vaccine.

"I was actually quite censorious about a lot of people at the time. I’ve since apologised to some people for being too tough on them, because once it became clear that if you had the vaccine it made no difference to whether you could then transmit the virus, clearly, at that point, it became a personal choice. If the potential danger was irrelevant compared to whether you had the jab or not, then it should have been up to the individual.

"So, I’ve said on that basis that I believe the vaccines were important — I think they saved a lot of lives. I had lots of people in my life at the time who were going through a terrible time with Covid.

"I’d like to say I’m sorry for the intemperate language I used against you. I didn’t know you. I took what I was reading and hearing at face value, but it turned out to be more complicated. So, I’m sorry for over-egging the rhetorical soufflé."

Djokovic responded as a result saying that he appreciated the apology and underlined his view point on the COVID vaccination as being pro choice not an anti-vax sentiment.

"I appreciate that very much — thank you so much. It was a difficult time, a state of emergency globally. I understand we’ve all been through hell on this planet," said Djokovic in response.

"The only thing I would add — not to dig deeper into the whole situation about Covid and vaccination — is that I was never a proponent of anti-vax or pro-vax. I was always for freedom of choice. That was misinterpreted. I was proclaimed to be on one side or the other — as if it had to be black or white. And I said, it doesn’t need to be that way.

"As an athlete, as someone who takes care of the integrity of his body, I did my research and understood that I wasn’t a threat to anybody, and that I didn’t need to take the vaccine myself. I had Covid two or three times in a year, year and a half — so I had all the antibodies, etc."

Iga Swiatek was defeated by both Elena Rybakina and Amanda Anisimova as her season ending in a bit of a damp squibb so to speak in the end but as her off season begins, she sent a message (only a month as she will play in Asia in exhibitions).

Swiatek said about wanting to develop her game more and thanked everyone for their support during the season and also the WTA Finals.

It was a year to remember for Swiatek at times and also forget. She hoisted the Wimbledon crown but also lost her Queen of Clay moniker going titleless during this time but she will hope to be back with a big in January.

"It’s been few days already, but I wanted to say big thank you for the support during @wtafinalsriyadh. The level was amazing and hopefully next year I will be able to achieve better result, but I enjoyed the challenge and I’m super motivated to progress and develop my game more and more.There will be time to write more and to properly wrap up the season but for now...do zobaczenia w Gorzowie Wielkopolskim," she wrote on Instagram.

Aryna Sabalenka was left in tears after being thrashed by Elena Rybakina in the WTA Finals but soon turned her attention to Tequila and a holiday in the Maldives and she stuck to her word today.

“Maybe I was a little emotional today, but it didn’t affect my game. I just didn’t take advantage of some of the chances I had.

“Now it’s time to sit down in the Maldives, maybe drink some tequila and analyse my season, my behaviour and emotions.

“I think it’s been great so far, I just need to be even better with myself and continue to improve next year.”

She did just that sharing a story on Tuesday of her on a swing in the Maldives enjoying her time off.

While the top stars are wanting to win their own trophy in Turin over the next week, they took part in Trophy Heist as they had to unlock the trophy in a cabinet.

They were given envelopes with clues and had to guess where everything was to open it up. Sinner was paired with Alcaraz, US duo Shelton and Fritz together while De Minaur was with Zverev.

Of course Musetti and Auger-Aliassime weren't confirmed when this was done so they don't appear. Should've got Alexander Bublik for even more humour.