Stef at a Crossroads: With His Father Out As Coach, Tsitsipas Navigating Change

By Richard Osborn

Stefanos Tsitsipas is looking quite bronzed, the result of having played both a singles and doubles match on the same afternoon in the full-on Cincinnati sunshine. The Greek star has just spent a total of three hours and 12 minutes on the court.  

“Better sunburned than pale,” he offers. “I prefer it.”

The singles went Tsitsipas’ way, a 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 opening-round win against Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff. He wasn’t as fortunate in the doubles. He and partner Holger Rune of Denmark fell to the wildcard pairing of Americans Mackenzie McDonald and Alex Michelsen, 3-6, 6-3, 10-5.

He prefers to discuss the Struff match.

“I am really proud of my comeback, because I was in a bad place in the match and I managed to get back and make it work,” says the Cincinnati Open’s ninth seed, who is in for a stiff test in Round 2 against rising Brit Jack Draper.

“It was my fighting effort and my consistency that paid off. I’m happy I’m through. There’s a new challenge ahead of me.”

Tsitspas is in uncharted territory. Just five days ago, he jettisoned his longtime coach, who just so happens to be his father, Apostolos. In doing so, he openly criticized his tutelage, going so far as to say, “He’s not very smart or good,” something for which he would later publicly apologize. Though Tsitsipas is temporarily aligned with Greece’s Davis Cup captain, Dimitris Hadjinikolaou, a search for a full-time replacement is apparently underway.    

“No changes are ever easy in this sport, whether that’s a team or anything else,” says Tsitsipas, a finalist at the Lindner Family Tennis Center two years ago. “It’s always a tricky thing when you’re pursuing it. Everyone feels a little bit unsure about certain things, quite skeptical. But in these moments, it’s important to come up with the right solutions. I also find it important to focus on yourself, which you’re capable of as a player, and not focus too much on the environment. The right people adjust and they make it work for you, they work around you. Once you find these people, it’s a big relief for your tennis because you’re able to communicate in great ways. You’re able to coordinate in ways that ensure your tennis becomes better, but also your mental state improves.”

How will the hiring process work?

“I will be trying to make an interview with different coaches. I’m not entirely sure how I’m going to proceed in terms of what coach I will be picking,” he explains. “That’s something that is uncertain for now. But I’m glad that Dimitris stepped in to help me out. I’ve known him my entire life, since I was a little baby. We’ve practiced together. He’s always been a good, solid structure and support in terms of coaching. I was unable to get my coach here because, unfortunately, he doesn’t travel much and it’s not really his thing. But I feel close and I feel like it’s very intimate having a person like him helping me out.”

Tsitsipas has paused the coaching relationship with his father before, but this somehow feels different. He turned 26 just two days earlier, biting into a birthday cake presented by his mother, the former professional tennis player Julia Apostoli. He’s no longer that kid hitting tennis balls with his parents between lessons. Still chasing the maiden Grand Slam title so many of us thought he would have secured by now, it feels like he’s at a career crossroads.

“I am, yes,” agrees the 2019 Nitto ATP Finals champion and former world No. 3. “It feels like a big change for me. I also feel like I’m at a crossroads in navigating towards a different alignment of my life, of my career. Things like this offer a massive change of perspective in the way you perceive tennis. I’m just hoping it’s going to be a positive one, that it’s going to be one that allows me to thrive maybe in other areas of my career.”

“There are plenty of things that can be improved within my game. Of course, I’m happy to work with the best that this sport has to offer and to find ways to collaborate, for these people to try to help me out as much as they can. Because at the end of the day, I just want to maximize as much as I can of my career and to work with the right people that know how to guide me and know how to provide tennis wisdom into my game.”

The other half of the #Tsitsidosa super-couple, girlfriend Paula Badosa, was busy winning her own match on Wednesday: Stefanos on Center Court, Paula behind him on the P&G Grandstand, where the Spaniard dispatched American Peyton Stearns, 6-2, 7-5, now also into the second round. Tsitsipas says she’s been there throughout this week’s turmoil to back him.

“Paula is a great source of support. I’ve always spoken greatly of her because she’s been there in my toughest moments,” he attests. “She always was compassionate, there was always a shoulder to lean on when moments like this occur. This was entirely my decision, not influenced by anyone else. It was a difficult one to make and I didn’t actually even advise with her which, I guess, is a normal thing to do when you’re in a relationship. But I felt like it was something that I had to think through myself and get it processed in my own mind, on my own terms. We’re trying to support each other in the best possible ways.”

Tsitsipas then heads off, back into the late-afternoon sun, to rest and recover for the challenges ahead, his match with Jack Draper included.