Mumbai: Stefanos Tsitsipas stares at a crossroads in his tennis career. And not merely from the philosophical lens with which the 26-year-old often likes to see things. It’s all too real, and the Greek knows it too well.
“I’m nothing compared to the player I was before,” Tsitsipas said.
The world No.11 had just been beaten 6-7(5), 6-4, 3-6, 5-7 by Thanasi Kokkinakis in New York on Tuesday and sent tumbling out of the US Open in the first round. Sure, the 86th-ranked Aussie can be dangerous on his day, but the last time he won a first-round match at the US Open was in 2019 and has never gone beyond the third round elsewhere. Tsitsipas, the former world No.3, is a two-time major finalist and a routine face in the business end of Slams not too long ago.
By all accounts, this was a shocker for Tsitsipas, who has now been ousted from the opening round of the US Open in two of his previous three appearances and is yet to enter its second week.
This defeat, however, isn’t just about his season-ending Slam letdown. This is a culmination of an all-year lull.
For the first time after 2018, Tsitsipas will end a season without entering at least one semi-final across the four Slams. His best this year has been the French Open quarter-final — where he was brushed aside in straight sets by Carlos Alcaraz — between defeats to Taylor Fritz in Australia (Round of 16), Emil Ruusuvuori at Wimbledon (Round of 64) and Kokkinakis in New York.
This, from a player who earned his right to play Novak Djokovic in two Slam finals at the 2021 French Open and 2023 Australian Open, even leading two sets to love in the former. From a player who gobbled up eight titles on the ATP tour from 2019 to 2022 and has had just one each over the last two seasons. From a player who did not drop outside the top 10 rankings from the time he got there in 2019 until earlier this year, when he found himself out of the elite list and way off the kind of tennis and results that he has been known to produce.
“I remember myself playing when I was younger, playing with adrenaline on the court, feeling like my life depends on the match. And these things, I feel like they have faded off,” Tsitsipas told reporters after his defeat in New York. “Let’s say my level of consistency hasn’t been as big. I remember my concentration used to be at its highest, at its peak, back then, and that’s something that I felt has dropped a little bit.”
When his mind and tennis were right up there, Tsitsipas was a sight to behold on court that made him shine brighter among the cream of his generation of players — alongside Alexander Zverev, Daniil Medvedev, Dominic Thiem — out to challenge the Big Three. The Greek’s game, and that single-handed backhand, had fluidity and flair. He didn’t seem out of place on any surface; unlike, say, with Medvedev on clay. His fitness was ripe and injuries rare; unlike, say, the injury-hampered Zverev and Thiem.
And yet, Thiem and Medvedev have major titles to show while Zverev has surged in Slams since his injury return last year. Tsitsipas has gone the other way — from being a Slam semi-finalist four times between 2019 and 2022, he hasn’t made it as far in seven attempts after the 2023 Australian Open final.
“I feel like I need to reproduce the hunger I had back then,” Tsitsipas said. “And I’m not a person that feels alright or settles for normal stuff. I really want to regenerate it and bring it back because it brought a lot of joy to my tennis when I was able to feel that way on court. I really don’t know why it has dropped the last couple of months; I would even consider it like one to two years I’ve been feeling that way.”
It reflects in the season he’s had — an untidy 36-17 win-loss record with just one title to show. It also reflects in his muddled decisions outside the court. Last year, Tsitsipas chose to put a pause on his coaching relationship with his father, Apostolos, and rejoined hands with former top 10 pro Mark Philippoussis, who he’d hired and split earlier in the season. Philippoussis was dumped again late last year, and his father brought to the forefront again. And again, earlier this month, Tsitsipas chose to let go of his father as coach.
Admittedly, Tsitsipas doesn’t know what’s wrong. He believes it could be a case of “long-term burnout”, having felt it from the start of the season. It’s not something, he reckons, that will go away simply with an extended holiday or a brief pause.
Burnout or not, Tsitsipas is searching for that fire from within, which would set him off on a trail of being a consistent presence in the big matches of big tournaments.
“What I’m struggling with right now is getting into that rhythm of wins and consistent good runs… those moments I had two or three years ago,” he said. “I remember feeling great, being able to reproduce that week after week. Right now, I’m way too far from doing that.”
