WIMBLEDON: Even before he stepped on the court today, Stefanos Tsitsipas felt that there was something wrong with his game.
In the days building up to the Wimbledon Championships, the Greek struggled to find his range on the grass. At his two lead up tournaments, he lost in the first round of the Rosmalen Open followed by reaching the quarter-finals at Queen’s. However, since then things have not gone to plan for Tsitsipas. A player recently tipped by John McEnroe to have a deep run at the grand slam.
“I’ve been practicing the past couple days. I was struggling with some things. I never do that in a practice session, but I was so frustrated knowing already how things are going to be, based on my feelings on the court, how I feel, I was very mad with myself.’ Said Tsitsipas.
“I did something that I usually never do on the court. I stepped on my racquet, which made me feel horrible.’
“I was struggling a lot lately with my return. I don’t know why. I guess something mental. My return, finding the synchronization, and the right steps to get to the ball. I seem to kind of lose my coordination sometimes.”
The doubts of the Greek was exposed on Monday by Thomas Fabbiano, who rallied to an impressive 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(7), 6-3, victory and his first over a top 10 player. The Italian is in solid form and high in confidence after reaching the semi-finals at Eastbourne last week. His best ever tour-level performance on the grass.
“He was just better than me today. I think the way I played, it should have been in three, not five. I don’t know how I got to five. I guess with my fighting spirit, somehow I managed to win those two sets.” Tsitsipas admitted afterward.
It was hoped that Wimbledon would be where a member of the Next generation contingent would score a breakthrough on the tour. Tsitsipas is regarded as one of the leaders of that group as is already an icon of Greek tennis. Becoming the highest ranked player from his country in history and the first to reach the semi-finals of a major.
With the records comes higher expectations for the 20-year-old. Could all the hype be a case of too much too soon?
“I don’t think that’s an excuse. We’ve seen players my age, many years ago. I would like to name Rafa, Roger, seemed very mature and professional what they were doing. They had consistency from a young age. They always did well tournament by tournament without major drops or inconsistency.” The Greek explained.
“Something that we as the Next Gen players lack, including myself as well, is this inconsistency week by week. It’s a week-by-week problem basically, that we cannot adjust to that.”
Tsitsipas has now lost in the first round at Wimbledon in two out of the past three years.
