👋 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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On tap today: Stefanos Tsitsipas hires Goran Ivanisevic (at least for a little while), Alex de Minaur tries to explain his shocking loss, Amelie Mauresmo serves up an unsatisfying answer on night matches, Frances Tiafoe takes on Sebastian Korda, plus more in today’s tennis news.

Let’s tennis!

Three Points

🎾 Another new coach: Stefanos Tsitsipas has announced that he’s hired Goran Ivanisevic as his new coach. The arrangement is good for the grass court season, with the aim of a better performance at Wimbledon, where he’s only reached the fourth round.

  • What he said: “Working with Goran is an exciting opportunity for me,” Tsitsipas said on Thursday. “He is someone who has reached the highest levels of tennis, both as a player and as a coach. I am confident that his experience will help me grow further and I am really looking forward to that.”
  • A stipulation: According to multiple reports, Ivanisevic required that Tsitsipas’ father, Apostolos, remain on the sidelines during his tenure. As we may collectively recall, that promise has been made before with other coaches.

🎾 Still stepping in it: With more WTA players adding to the growing chorus of the opinion that it is unacceptable to keep women’s matches from the night session at Roland-Garros, tournament director Amelie Mauresmo finally weighed in, insisting it has nothing to do with the quality of play on the women’s side.

  • What she said: “It has never been that the girls are not worthy to play at night,” Mauresmo said on Friday. “It’s never been this, and I will not accept that you carry this message.” She added: “It’s the length of the matches, not the level they reach.”
  • Not buying it: “I do think that women’s matches are worthy of a night spot,” Gauff said after her match on Friday. “From my experience playing at the U.S. Open, a night match at 7 pm with Novak [Djokovic] following me – and he’s the greatest player of all time – people were almost just as excited to see me play as him. Same with other places I play, like Australia.”
  • Worth repeating: Markets are made. They don’t fall from the sky. And every time a contract is negotiated, whether it’s for an individual player’s sponsor or a massive television contract, women get a smaller cut because they’re systematically left off the biggest stages.

🎾 A hard loss: In a five-set battle, 9th-seeded Alex de Minaur took a surprise second-round loss to Alexander Bublik, who is now ranked outside the top 50. The Australian was up two sets to love when everything fell apart.

  • What he said: “There’s no excuse for myself, what happened today. I need to look at myself in the mirror and find out the reason, because ultimately, this isn’t going to change. I have to adapt and make sure it doesn’t happen again.” He added: “No illness, no injury. Look, I’m just tired. I’m tired mentally. I’m a little bit burnt out, if anything.”
  • Recently: This loss probably stings more than others partially because de Minaur made a greater effort this year to adapt his game to clay, which was made apparent in his semifinal run to Monte Carlo, quarterfinal appearance in Barcelona, and rounds of 16 in Madrid and Rome, defeating several strong dirt-ballers along the way.
  • A need for change: In a recurring theme on the tour, de Minaur pointed out that his burnout is a direct result of the tour schedule. “The solution is simple, you shorten the schedule,” he said after the match. “What’s not normal is that for the past three or four years, I’ve had two days off after Davis Cup and I’ve gone straight into pre-season and the new season...Once you start, you don’t finish until November 24. It’s just never-ending.”