While some of Stefanos Tsitsipas’ peers made notable inroads in their career ascension in the abbreviated 2020 season, the same cannot be said about the Greek. Tsitsipas added to his title tally at Marseille, and had a number of good runs in some key tournaments, but was unable to provide the final punch on a few occasions and that among other aspects on and off the court is where his focus will be in 2021.
The Gifted Talent Tsitsipas
At the age of 19, Stefanos Tsitsipas had a breakthrough season in 2018, when he was a finalist at the ATP 500 in Barcelona defeating three top 20 players en route including Dominic Thiem before losing a lopsided final to the ‘King of Clay’ Rafa Nadal.
He topped this performance at the Canadian Masters, with an almost freak run defeating Dominic Thiem, Novak Djokovic, Alexander Zverev and Kevin Anderson in succession before losing another straight sets final to Nadal.
The Greek won his first title that year in Stockholm before ending the year with a title at the Next Gen ATP finals in Milan.
2019 was memorable for Tsitsipas as it began with a semi-final run at the Australian Open, which included a fourth round win against Roger Federer.
The year saw Tsitsipas defeat Nadal on the Madrid clay, as well as Djokovic indoors in Shanghai. The Greek added to his title tally at Estoril and Marseille and ended the season with the biggest win thus far of his career winning the year end ATP Tour Finals title in London. It was also the first time he broke into the top five of the ATP rankings.
Tstisipas defended his title at Marseille before the Covid-19 pandemic hiatus and upon the return of the tour did well to make the semi-finals of the Western & Southern Open and the French Open as well as the finals of the ATP 500 in Hamburg.
The current world number six did not get out of the group stages while defending his ATP Tour Finals title in London, and will be looking towards a 2021 that will hopefully enable him to reach the next level of his career.
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Focus Areas For Tsitsipas in ’21 & Onwards
Although only 22 years old, Tsitsipas has an impressive resume and it is evident that he has all the talent it takes to play against the best in the sport out there and win with belief. However, he is perhaps a notch behind the likes of Dominic Thiem and Daniil Medvedev, or at least his results suggest so.
While Tsitsipas probably has among the more elegant games, full of flair and a beautiful single handed backhand that is reminiscent of the great Roger Federer, there is room for improvement in different aspects as he strives for his first major and to be in a better place overall than where he is today.
During the US Open, the world number six was up two sets to one against Borna Coric and had match points on his own serve multiple times for a four set win. However, a trivial altercation with his box resulted in a complete less of focus followed by a meltdown and an unbelievable loss in the final set tie-break.
Unable to get his focus and attention going in the French Open semi-final against Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals, Tsitsipas was down two sets to love in no time and then put up an excellent display of tennis, temperament and perseverance to take Djokovic to five sets, before Tsitsipas lost the focus somewhat in the decider, with Djokovic running away with the match there on.
It is imperative in the new season that Tsitsipas focus on his consistency and temperament.
The situations from which he has lost in 2020 (US Open loss to Coric, Hamburg final to Rublev) are evidence that he needs to back himself better on an off-day and play percentage tennis to go through the motions when the chips are down.
The matches cited above have seen the Greek more disturbed with himself than is necessary and switch over to the frustration with himself and expressing vented emotions with his team.
Tsitsipas has been coached by his father Apostolos Tsitsipas for a while now and that has led to its own visible and (hearsay) frustrations and friction. Being part of the Patrick Mouratgolou broader term, it may serve him well to switch to a professional tenured coach for the betterment of his own career and temperament.
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What Does 2021 Hold for Tsitsipas?
Tsitsipas has since his very early breakthrough on the ATP playing field, been very clear about the (realistic) goals he sets for himself. A major title run will inevitably be one of his desires as the new season gets started.
It took a pandemic, a disqualification and a mix of injuries and travel uncertainties for a non-Big Three to win a major. Thus, major wins do not come by without their fair share of pain for the non ‘Big Three’.
The Greek has a game that is well suited to the faster surfaces and it will be no surprise to see him win his first ever Masters 1000 at a venue of the likes of Shanghai or Paris among others, such as the Sunshine Double, Canada or Cincinnati.
Until proven otherwise, the majors still remain very ‘Big-Three’ territory. Nadal will be the strong favorite again once Roland Garros gets underway and even the likes of Djokovic and Thiem have had no answers for the Spaniard on the red dirt.
Even the most successful at Wimbledon in recent times, i.e. Roger Federer has struggled to stop the Djokovic juggernaut on the grass courts of Wimbledon and no reason to feel otherwise this time either.
While the Aussie & US Open seem more viable options for the Greek at the moment, it will take a Herculean effort to stop Novak Djokovic at Melbourne Park and there are too many (tennis and non-tennis) factors to really gauge who the favorites will be eight months from now in Flushing.
There is no reason to doubt Tsitsipas’ abilities to win a maiden major sooner rather then later; but given the quality in the top eight on the ATP tour, the areas of focus for Tsitsipas and the still relatively inexperienced phase of his career than he is in do make it more likely than not that 2021 may not be the year of the Grand Slam for him.
That being said, there is every reason to believe that the Greek will continue to get better and consistent and maybe leave us all with a surprise major title in ’21, just like he did at the Tour Finals last year.
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2021 Predictions for Tsitsipas
A regular member of the top eight for almost two seasons, Tsitsipas is ready for the next step in his career. Only 22 and a natural talent, the sooner he addresses the few areas that need development both on and off the court, he will be a likely candidate for what will probably be the first of many crucial titles.
It remains to be seen if 2021 will be that year. With the Big Three, and the likes of Medvedev, Thiem, Zverev right there as well, Tsitsipas will start 2021 with an outside shot at a major. But, we can expect more titles to his total tally including a potential Masters. Tennis fans and experts may need to wait a little longer for Tsitsipas’ first major title, but time will tell how ready he is for bigger shoes in 2021.
great article but it’s a shame you decided to blame his loss to novak at RG on loss of focus when he has been struggling with an injury since USO, the same injury that made him pull out of St Petersburg. I assume you know this and decided to leave that crucial part out. The kid didn’t do too bad on the back of a mean injury in his psoas
Thanks for the comment and for reading the article. Your point is well taken. The point I was trying to make was he was sublime in his QF against Rublev, came out against Novak a little all over the place temperamentally. Came back very strong in the third and fourth- and then a little flat in the 5th. The injury was a factor, agreed, and I should have alluded to it as well. But, I was more focused on the inconsistency and temperament factor perhaps. But, thanks for pointing it out again.