The story of Stefanos Tsitsipas came to be thanks to his father, Apostolos Tsitsipas, giving up everything for his son's better future.
The bond between Stefanos and his father, Apostolos, is incredibly strong. You have to go far back to understand how and why it came to be. The father-son connection is usually a strong one, but this one is strengthened through mutual respect and admiration in some ways.
Tsitsipas admires his father deeply for the sacrifice he made both for him specifically and the family overall. His father respects his son for not wasting that sacrifice and working tirelessly to get to the level he's gotten to in his professional tennis career.
All of that, in combination with their shared love for tennis, creates a supremely strong bond that's just impossible to comprehend from the outside. Plenty advocated for Tsitsipas to ditch his father for some other coach, and he tried it, but it didn't work.
There is no Stefanos Tsitsipas 'the tennis player' without Apostolos Tsitsipas 'the tennis coach.' The bond is just too strong. In a recent interview with The Guardian, Tsitsipas opened up about his father and what he did for him.
My dad gave up everything and dedicated his whole life to me. I’m thankful because, without his commitment and risk-taking, I wouldn’t be here now. He took a lot of criticism for it, because he literally left everything to be with me. But I’m proud because we’ve been through all the ups and downs and it worked out pretty well.
Tennis is not a cheap sport, and the Tsitsipas family was not the wealthiest family. It was made worse by the financial crisis in the country, which took a toll on everyone.
The highly motivated nature of Tsitsipas comes both from observing his father give it his all for the betterment of the family and also from his wanting to make it so that he can make their life easier.
That shows his character because it was one of the worst moments in Greek history. I went through a lot of hardships. Obviously tennis is expensive and my father was struggling. The banks wouldn’t let him withdraw X amount of money each day so it was very stressful for him. As a kid I felt it, but I had so much belief in my skills that I was determined to make it, to give my parents a better life.
0 Comments