US Open 2024: Tsitsipas’s First-Round Loss to Kokkinakis Marks Major Career Challenge
US Open 2024 Updates: Stefanos Tsitsipas will conclude a season without making it to at least one Grand Slam semifinal for the first time since 2018.
The Greek tennis player’s early withdrawal from the 2024 US Open, when he was defeated by Thanasi Kokkinakis in the opening round, highlights a concerning development in his career.
In his tennis career, Stefanos Tsitsipas finds himself at a crossroads. Not just via the philosophical perspective that the 26-year-old frequently adopts. The Greek is all too familiar with it; it’s all too genuine. Tsitsipas remarked, “I’m nothing compared to the player I was before.”
Thanasi Kokkinakis defeated the world No. 11 on Tuesday in New York, 6-7(5), 6-4, 3-6, 5-7, sending him out of the US Open in the first round. Although the 86th-ranked Australian is a dangerous player on his day, he has never advanced past the third round in any other tournament and hasn’t won a first-round match in the US Open since 2019. Not very long ago, Tsitsipas, the former world No. 3 player, was a regular fixture in the business end of Slams and a two-time major finalist.
This was reportedly a surprise for Tsitsipas, who has now lost two of his past three US Open outings in the tournament’s opening round and hasn’t even reached the second week. But this is more than simply a season-ending disappointment for him in Slam. This marks the end of an annual hiatus.
Tsitsipas will conclude a season without making it to at least one semifinal among the four Slams for the first time since 2018. Between losses to Taylor Fritz in Australia (round of 16), Emil Ruusuvuori in Wimbledon (round of 64), and Kokkinakis in New York, his finest performance of the year came in the French Open quarterfinal, where he was easily defeated in straight sets by Carlos Alcaraz.
This from a man who, in the 2021 French Open and 2023 Australian Open, earned the privilege to face Novak Djokovic in two Slam finals—he even led two sets to love in the former. from a player who won eight titles on the ATP Tour between 2019 and 2022, but has only won one every two seasons since then.
From the moment he entered the rankings in 2019 until earlier this year, the player did not fall outside the top 10, and his performance was much below his usual level of tennis and results.
When I was younger, I can still picture me playing on the court, high on adrenaline, and believing that the outcome of the match would determine my fate. And these things, I feel like they’ve kind of drifted away,” Tsitsipas said to reporters following his New York setback. “Let’s just say that I haven’t been as consistent. I felt that my level of attention had somewhat decreased from when I was younger. I can still recall when it was at its best.
Tsitsipas was a sight to behold on the court when his game was on point, which helped him stand out among the best players of his generation, including Dominic Thiem, Daniil Medvedev, and Alexander Zverev, who were vying to challenge the Big Three. The Greek’s backhand, played one-handed, was elegant and fluid.
In contrast to Medvedev on clay, for example, he didn’t appear out of place on any surface. Unlike, however, the injury-plagued Zverev and Thiem, his fitness was prime and his injuries were infrequent.
However, Zverev has increased his number of Slams since returning from injury last year, while Thiem and Medvedev still have significant trophies to their names. Tsitsipas has taken a different route; after reaching four Slam semifinals between 2019 and 2022, he hasn’t advanced as far in seven tries following the Australian Open final in 2023.
Tsitsipas remarked, “I feel like I need to reproduce the hunger I had back then.” Furthermore, I’m not someone who settles for ordinary things or feels okay. When I was able to feel that way on the court, it truly added joy to my tennis, which is why I really want to regenerate and bring it back. I honestly have no idea why it has decreased over the past few months; in fact, I’ve been feeling that way for probably a year or two.
It’s evident in his season record, which is an untidy 36-17 win-loss record with just one championship to his name. It’s evident in his confused extrajudicial rulings as well. Tsitsipas decided to reestablish his coaching relationship with former top-10 pro Mark Philippoussis, whom he had hired and fired earlier in the season, instead of continuing with his partnership with his father, Apostolos, last year.
Late last year, Philippoussis was dropped once more, and his father came to the fore once more. And once more, Tsitsipas made the decision to fire his father as coach earlier this month.
To be honest, Tsitsipas has no idea what’s wrong. Having experienced “long-term burnout” from the beginning of the season, he thinks that might be the cause. He believes it’s not something that can be solved by taking a long vacation or a short break.
Whether or not he is burned out, Tsitsipas is looking for that inner fire that would propel him to a career of being a reliable presence in the pivotal moments of major tournaments.
“I’m having trouble right now getting back into that winning streak and steady success that I had two or three years ago,” he remarked. “I can still remember how wonderful it felt to be able to replicate that week after week. I’m simply too far away from doing that right now.
