👋 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: Novak Djokovic apologizes for his performance, the ITF reshuffles the schedule, the American BJK Cup team resets, and Matteo Berrettini takes on Lorenzo Musetti.

Let’s tennis!

Three Points

🎾 Apologies: In The Daily Theory yesterday, we called out the Novak Djokovic-Alejandro Tabilo match for a potential upset. And that’s exactly what happened in a somewhat baffling 90-minute, straight-set match. Tabilo now has a 2-0 record against Djokovic — both wins on clay.

  • What he said: “I expected myself at least to have put in a decent performance. Not like this. It was horrible,” Djokovic said. “I did not have high expectations. I knew I’m going to have a tough opponent and I knew I’m going to probably play pretty bad. But this bad, I didn’t expect.” He added: “A horrible feeling to play this way, and just sorry for all the people that have to witness this.”
  • Data point: Djokovic tallied 29 unforced errors in the match — more than 7 games worth.

🎾 A twist in the schedule: The International Tennis Federation announced that the 2025 Billie Jean King Cup Finals will move from November to September 16-21 in Shenzhen, China, as a way of “supporting player calendar flow.” BJK Cup will now appear at the start of the Asia swing of the calendar, putting players in the right time zone for their next set of tournaments (albeit the same week as the Korea Open, which organizers certainly aren’t too happy about).

  • Previously: The event was typically held at the end of the season. But that often went right up against the WTA Tour Finals, which resulted in some players choosing to bow out of the team competition to protect their rankings and earn exceptionally large payouts in the year-end championships.
  • A sign?: Is this is sign that the governing bodies are starting to listen to players (and the PTPA)?

🎾 The U.S. reshuffles: Speaking of Billie Jean King Cup, many of the first matches are underway today, and the American team has quite a shake-up on its squad. Jessica Pegula, Danielle Collins, and McCartney Kessler all pulled out of the competition, the USTA announced on Wednesday.

  • Who’s in?: Captain Lindsay Davenport named newcomers Hailey Baptiste, Alycia Parks, and Bernarda Pera to join BJK Cup veterans Desirae Krawczyk and Asia Muhammad.
  • When: The U.S. is in a group with Denmark and hosts Slovakia competing April 11-13 in Bratislava.