👋 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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Today’s tennis mood rating: Regeneration with a side of uncertainty.

Let’s tennis!

Three Points

🎾 Draper is down one: Welp, that didn’t take long. Just a week after we reported on Jack Draper adding Jamie Delgado (the former coach to Andy Murray and, most recently, Grigor Dimitrov) as the lead coach to his team, James Trotman is stepping down from his coaching role. Trotman had been with Draper for the last four years and oversaw his rapid rise to the top of the game.

  • What he said: “I’ve made the decision that four years has been a great run,” Trotman told BBC Sport. “I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it, but it was getting increasingly difficult for me juggling the demands Jack deserves as the player that he is — and also being a father and a husband. I need to start to get those energy levels back up and have a little bit more normality — watch my son play football on a Sunday, go on some family holidays, have a bit more of a normal life.”

🎾 Tiafoe is rebuilding: In another coaching change in The Coaching Change Season, David Witt announced that he has departed from the Frances Tiafoe camp. So far, Tiafoe has not offered comment.

  • What he said: “Thanks, Big Foe, for the ride this last year and a half. Some things come to an end, but good memories, great times, and a friendship last forever,” Witt posted on Instagram. “Thanks, broth — nothing but love.”
  • Also: Last week, Tiafoe saw the exit of a major staple on his team, Jordi Arconada. “After five years of hard work and fun it is time to let go,” Arconada posted on Instagram. “I will always be thankful for the opportunity you gave me to come work with you and I’m extremely proud of what we have achieved together. Super excited for what the future has in store for me and for new beginnings.”
  • Recently: As reported in The Daily Theory last week, Tiafoe had pulled out of the remaining tournaments for 2025, ending a disappointing season early.
  • The year in review: In his first six tournaments of the year, Tiafoe was unable to string two wins together. The season seemed to be turning around when he reached the final of the 250 event in Houston, but then he went back on the struggle bus for the European clay season until he reached the quarterfinals of Roland-Garros. From there, it was almost all downhill.

🎾 Sabotage: Speaking on a panel with Shaquille O’Neal and UFC CEO Dana White, Novak Djokovic praised the history of tennis, but called out its lack — and even obstruction — of innovation to move the sport forward.

  • What he said: “Tennis has been a sport of elites, has that kind of foundation…good, because we have a heritage and tradition and history that we’re proud of, and it’s a very global sport,” Djokovic said. “But it has so much potential that is unused, and that is on the bad side, because the innovation is obstructed, it’s sabotaged, because you have to behave a certain way that we’ve gotten used to seeing people talk or play.”
  • Noteworthy: Djokovic also said he would like to see the sport transform from the inside, putting to rest any chatter that he plans on retiring anytime soon: “I feel like tennis is a sport that can be greatly transformed and I want to be part of that change, not just part of their change but I want to be playing when we kind of rejuvenate our sport and set the new platform that is going to go on for decades to come.”

And, that’s game.

On The Radar

Matches we’re monitoring today:

Ningbo - WTA 500 (Hard)

  • Elena Rybakina vs. Jasmine Paolini (Semifinals)
  • Ekaterina Alexandrova vs. Diana Shnaider or Lin Zhu (Semifinals)

Osaka - WTA 250 (Hard)

  • Leylah Fernandez vs. Sorana Cirstea (Semifinals)
  • Jaqueline Cristian vs. Tereza Valentova (Semifinals)

Almaty - ATP 250 (Hard)

  • James Duckworth vs. Daniil Medvedev (Semifinals)
  • Alex Michelsen vs. Jan-Lennard Struff or Corentin Moutet (Semifinals)

Brussels - ATP 250 (Hard)

  • Jiri Lehecka vs. Benjamin Bonzi (Quarterfinals)
  • Lorenzo Musetti vs. Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard (Quarterfinals)
  • Eliot Spizzirri vs. Felix Auger-Aliassime (Quarterfinals)
  • Raphael Collignon vs. Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (Quarterfinals)

Stockholm - ATP 250 (Hard)

  • Ugo Humbert vs. Lorenzo Musetti (Quarterfinals)
  • Holger Rune vs. Tomas Martin Etcheverry (Quarterfinals)
  • Sebastian Korda vs. Casper Ruud (Quarterfinals)
  • Elias Ymer vs. Denis Shapovalov (Quarterfinals)

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

Read, Watch, Listen

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