Stefanos Tsitsipas says he is taking a new approach to having his father coach him again after an ‘obnoxious’ ending to their past partnership last year.
The Greek has brought his father, Apostolos, back into his team following the departure of Goran Ivanisevic. Ivanisevic, who has previously coached Novak Djokovic, spent less than two months working with Tsitsipas and during that time publicly voiced his concern about the tennis star’s current form, which he described as a ‘disaster.’ Speaking about the split, the Croat said he believes Apostolos is the only person capable of coaching his son.
However, the duo has experienced a rocky relationship in the past, which reached a boiling point last summer. During the 2024 Canadian Masters, a heated argument took place with Tsitsipas asking his father to leave midway through his match against Kei Nishikori. The former world No.3 later told The Athletic that he needed to ‘take decisions based on my own gut feeling’ after their split.
“It was a very difficult ending, the way it ended last year with him,” Tsitsipas told Ziggo Sport on Sunday.
“He managed to get me to a point that I honestly didn’t even recognize myself, the way it ended and the way I reacted to this relationship, partnership that we formed over the last couple of years, the way it ended was very obnoxious and unexpected that it would happen in that way, in that fashion.
“But there are a lot of things that I regret from it. There are a lot of things that I wouldn’t want to repeat because even my behaviour and my reaction to it wasn’t very mature or wasn’t very me.
“He (Apostolos) definitely made me lose my control, my inner control as well. But we’ve talked a lot. Since then, we’ve spent a lot of weeks together. He’s been on a tour occasionally here and there, not as my coach, but as my father.”
Since their high-profile fallout, the two have buried the hatchet, but Tsitsipas is cautious about preventing the same from happening again. It is for this reason that this time around, he wants to have more power in their partnership.
“I think I have to be strict with him. Sometimes I feel like he wants to do too many things on his own,” he explains.
“I’m trying to recalibrate that and make him understand that it’s also certain things need to happen the way I want them to happen.
“I think this relationship deserves way more than the way we’ve been treating it in the past.”
Tsitsipas is aiming to get back on track ahead of the US Open after failing to win back-to-back matches at his last five tournaments played. At Wimbledon, he was forced to retire from his opening match due to injury.
His next test will be in Toronto, where he is seeded 23rd in the draw. In his section, he could face Alex de Minaur in the third round, who recently won the Citi Open in Washington.
“I’m feeling much, much better. I wouldn’t have imagined that three weeks ago I would be in the position I am now because I was in a really bad state, physically mainly,” he commented.
“But we all know that once you’re physically not there, it affects the other chain too. It affects you mentally, it affects you in all kinds of ways and forms.
“In a situation like this, I just need to stay strong. I’m happy I’m in Toronto, it was not part of the plan. It’s been a tumultuous period.”
Tsitsipas is currently ranked 30th in the world, which is his lowest position since 2018.
