Stefanos Tsitsipas supplied a brutally trustworthy assertion on his struggles, admitting that he’s “nothing in comparison with the participant I used to be earlier than” and in addition famous that for a while he has felt that some issues have been off in his recreation but additionally psychological state.
On Tuesday, Tsitsipas’ tough 2024 season took one other dangerous flip after the two-time Grand Slam finalist suffered a 6-7 (5) 6-4 3-6 5-7 loss to world No. 86 Thanasi Kokkinakis. By dropping to Kokkinakis, Tsitsipas – now ranked at No. 11 on the earth – concluded his North American hard-court swing with a simply 1-3 document since he additionally misplaced early on the Masters occasions in Montreal and Cincinnati.
Earlier than the US Open, Tsitsipas suffered a shock second-round loss at Wimbledon. The Greek additionally did not impress that a lot on the Grand Slam degree earlier this yr, dropping within the Australian Open round-of-16 and reaching the French Open round-of-16.
“I’m nothing in comparison with the participant I used to be earlier than. I bear in mind myself enjoying after I was youthful, enjoying with adrenaline on the court docket, feeling like my life will depend on the match. And this stuff, I really feel like they’ve pale off, and let’s say my degree of consistency hasn’t been as huge,” Tsitsipas admitted.
Tsitsipas reveals extra on his struggles
Following the Kokkinakis loss, Tsitsipas is simply 36-17 in 2024 – which is a far cry from his information in among the earlier seasons. However the 26-year-old Greek has an concept of what went mistaken.
“I bear in mind my focus was at its highest, at its peak, again then, and that’s one thing that I felt has dropped just a little bit. I do know it sounds unusual, however I really feel like I would like the starvation to breed the starvation I had again then. And I’m not an individual that feels alright or settles for regular stuff. Like, I actually need to regenerate it and produce it again as a result of it introduced plenty of pleasure to my tennis after I was in a position to really feel that approach on the court docket,” Tsitsipas defined.
“I actually don’t know why it has dropped the final couple of months. I might even take into account it like one to 2 years I’ve been feeling that approach. I suppose I used to be simply in a position to conceal it a bit higher and put it to the facet a bit extra.”
After hitting 51 unforced errors versus Kokkinakis, Tsitsipas advised that he’s most likely additionally coping with burnout.
