👋 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: Tennis Channel finds a new leader, Novak Djokovic pulls out of the Italian Open, Taylor Fritz is too clean for clay, Mirra Andreeva takes on Coco Gauff, plus more tennis news today.

Let’s tennis!

Three Points

🎾 Big changes: Tennis Channel has brought on Jeff Blackburn, a former Amazon executive, as the company’s new chairman and CEO. He replaces Ken Solomon, the longtime leader of Tennis Channel, who was reportedly let go last year over concerns that he was overly occupied with a media company launched by Dr. Phil.

  • What he said: “From my point of view, this is the job I wanted,” Blackburn told The Athletic. “I didn’t want other roles. This is exactly the role that I want. Something in sports with a fantastic organization already in place that built a great business over the last 22 years. He added: “I think it is a jewel. I think it is an absolutely essential thing in the whole tennis ecosystem.”
  • Big plus: Blackburn is not just a tech executive — he’s a lifelong tennis player and fan who likely sees holes in the industry and the knowhow to fill them.
  • One nugget: Blackburn said Amazon nearly bought Tennis Channel a decade ago. Instead, Sinclair snagged it.

🎾 Djokovic out: On Tuesday, Novak Djokovic pulled out of next week’s Italian Open. As of now, no reason has been supplied. The decision comes in the middle of a three-match losing streak going into Roland-Garros.

  • Recently: After losing to Matteo Arnaldi 6-3, 6-4 in Madrid, Djokovic said: “It’s a completely different feeling from what I had in 20-plus years of professional tennis. It’s a challenge for me mentally to really face these kinds of sensations on the court, going out early now regularly in tournaments.”
  • The schedule: In 2025, Djokovic is playing tournaments he’s skipped in recent years — including Madrid. And now, he’s skipping a tournament he has routinely played and has won six times.
  • One question: Will Djokovic take a last-minute wild card into Geneva or Hamburg right before Roland-Garros?

🎾 Too clean on the dirt: For a top 5 player, Taylor Fritz hasn’t altered his game enough to be seriously competitive on clay. In his 7-5, 6-4 loss on Tuesday to Casper Ruud it became painfully clear that there’s just not enough action on the ball to hurt a good clay courter. Nothing gets up in the shoulder-height range to get weak replies. His ball is too straight and low, too short in the court, and too in the strike zone of his opponents. In other words, his ball is too clean for clay. Is this something he can change? The better question might be: Is it something he’s willing to change?