Stefanos Tsitsipas couldn’t shed off his poor form as he got knocked out of the US Open in the R2 and 24-time major winner Martina Navratilova identifies the Greek needs to sharpen two areas of his game if he wants to be competitive again.
Tsitsipas started his 2023 tennis calendar with a blast as he reached the final at Melbourne Park but thereafter he struggled to take that form in the remainder of the season. After incurring the upset loss from Dominic Stricker, the ATP #7 may soon leave the lucrative top 10 slot and his race to Turin is already under big threat.
The #128 seed Swiss proved too much for the 2-time GS finalist by going toe-to-toe against the Greek for a 7-5 6-7 (2) 6-7 (5) 7-6 (6) 6-3 victory. Stricker has reached the R3 of the New York major and the next-gen sensation is a former French Open Junior who hates quitting chocolate and cookies on the advice of his coach. It looked that he set out his stall to make Tsitsipas feeling sour after outlasting the world No. 7 in a 4-hour slugfest.
“You know, I came out today pretty well today and felt good from the first set,” said Stricker.
“Over four hours it was a tough battle and I’m just super happy right now. I’m going to enjoy the rest of the day and recover tomorrow.
“It’s such a great day for me and such a great win. It gives me a lot of confidence. I believe a lot in me now.”
It is nothing less than a dream outcome for Stricker who could have been boarded to the plane back to Bern last week if he didn’t save a MP in one of his qualifiers.
The 21-year-old has now registered his best result at a major, after making it to the R2 at Wimbledon earlier this summer.
Tsitsipas served for the match at 5-3 in the 4th frame and was absolutely stunned by what happened: “That hasn’t happened to me before. It’s the first time for me.
“Usually I’m much tougher mentally, and I have shown it by coming back. Even though sometimes I get broken serving for the match, let’s say, I still find ways in the tie-break or perhaps in the fifth set. Today was not the case.”
Tsitsipas holds an unusually bad record at the second-ending major as he has yet to reach in the second week at the Flushing Meadows in his six appearances.
The 25-year-old added: “By no means I’m supposed to put any blame on any people or any members of my team.
“Everything on court is under my control and under my talents, and the way I can play this sport is shown out on the court. If I’m not able to deliver, then I’m not supposed to be doing well.
“That’s what happened this summer. I was not good enough to deliver and score good results. I won’t blame it on anything. It’s just poor performance.
“I have no reason to say anything. It was just pure competition. My opponent showed better tennis than I did. I want to congratulate him.
“I consider myself a good player, and I don’t want to be a person that can be beaten easily or I’m giving my opponents an easy time on the court against me. I try to make it as hard as I can, and if it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work. I move on with my life.”
The latest setback in the New York diary of Greek prompted 4-time US Open champion Martina Navratilova to come up with the solutions needed by the #7 seed to get his old mojo back.
“I just keep going to two things,” Navratilova told Sky Sports.
“He doesn’t get enough balls into play. He goes for big returns when he is close to the baseline and most of all, his backhand is too predictable.
“He really does not have an offensive backhand down the line. He goes through the middle of the court and guys are readying it.
“He has got to improve that shot. Technically, he is having real trouble hitting that backhand down the line.”
Tsitsipas, if he irons out those big flaws in his game, may come to New York next year to get back to the USTA hardcourts and end his Flushing Meadows misery.