Stefanos Tsitsipas and the French curse
24 years old, number five in the world rankings, nine titles on the ATP Tour and yet Stefanos Tsitsipas has been more square than round lately - with the exception of the final in Cincinnati. Why that could be.
by Victoria Moser
last edit: Aug 28, 2022, 11:26 am
sensation
Stefanos Tsitsipas caused a stir again and again in the last year. From too long toilet breaks to forbidden coaching to freaking out and wild insults on the pitch. Just a few days ago, in his National Bank Open debut this year, he fired a ball in the direction of opponent Jack Draper. Not news, but behavior that Nick Kyrgios also strongly criticized. This came under fire several times in the third round of Wimbledon against the Greek and ensured his elimination from the tournament.
A quick review
The initially shy boy Stefanos has developed into a charismatic man in recent years, having the peak of his career in 2021 at the French Open. He reached the final of the clay court classic and faced Novak Djokovic. Initially, it looked like everything was going according to plan for the Greece number one. He led 7:6 and 6:2, but couldn't extend his lead and lost the most important match of his career. Since then he hasn't been able to play that well and consistently. The curse of the good deed, so to speak.
The Hidden Cause
Even after a longer holiday after Wimbledon this year, he surprised again with his emotional style of play in Canada. This raises the question of what could be the cause of his erratic behavior. An answer to this can perhaps be found with tennis colleague Alexander Zverev. The top German player has some things in common with the part-time YouTuber. Among other things, both are trained by their fathers. Zverev, who laid his father off his post for a few months while only being cared for by his brother Mischa, concluded that his father is an important member of his team and has therefore re-hired him.
But family isn't always the influence top players need. This is not the case with Tsitsipas, who was able to call Thomas Enqvist his coach for a short time and who is probably still part of the extended team. His father repeatedly got him into the embarrassment of a coaching warning due to his verbal manner, and even on the training ground it was not uncommon for father and son to fight.
Maybe it's time to break the French curse, take some time off from your current coach and explore other influences that could improve your game?! In Cincinnati, however, Stefanos Tsitsipas was in the usual constellation in the final. Tsitsipas starts the US Open 2022 as one of the favorites, once again, it starts against Daniel Elahi Galan. And if you can make it in New York City, you can make it anywhere.
Here is the individual tableau at the US Open
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