Stefanos Tsitsipas had been struggling for a few years already, but Wednesday he definitely hit rock bottom. While his 2023 (post-Australian Open final loss) and 2024 seasons were pretty rough, he still had strong clay seasons despite struggling elsewhere; he made several deep runs at Masters 1000, winning Monte Carlo even, and only lost to Carlos Alcaraz at the French Open.
This year, however, he started by losing his stranglehold on Monte Carlo against Lorenzo Musetti in what he described as “the second toughest loss of my career” and he has only been spiraling down further since. Even so, no one really though he would lose to a qualifier at Roland Garros, but he got completely outplayed by Matteo Gigante and was absolutely horrible on break points, both for and against him, showing how much he’s lacking in confident on the court. With this loss, Tsitsipas, who just two years ago was a match away from becoming World #1, will exit the Top 25 and his career is clearly at a crossroads as it seems that he can’t even be a threat on clay anymore.
The only silver lining for Tsitsipas at the moment is that he will be working with Goran Ivanisevic after this tournament; maybe a new coach with a fresh perspective is what Tsitsipas needs to get his career back on track but it remains to be seen whether that will truly materialize. When he won the title in Dubai, it looked like he was back to his level, but the clay season showed it to be a false dawn. At 26 years old, Tsitsipas still had a long time ahead of him to change his fate, but there are also more and more young players who are capable of beating him; if Tsitsipas doesn’t make some big changes very soon, his days as a contender for big events might well be numbered.
Main Photo Credit: Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports
