Stefanos Tsitsipas has shared some of the technical and tactical reasons why he has lost recent Grand Slam finals.
In January, Tsitsipas reached his second career Grand Slam final at the Australian Open but eventually lost to Novak Djokovic. The Greek player's impressive run in Melbourne followed his previous major final appearance, which came in the 2021 French Open, where he also lost to Djokovic in an epic five-set contest.
Following his run to the Australian Open final this season, Tsitsipas also got to the Monte-Carlo Masters final in April before losing to Carlos Alcaraz. However, when speaking to the Tennis Channel at the Italian Open, Tsitsipas said he is confident in his mental game, but unforced errors in particular are proving to be problematic.
"Just giving away less unforced errors. I feel like I had mentioned against top guys that especially finals, I’ve lost a few of them. I’ve lost finals in my opinion that I shouldn't have lost. I wouldn’t blame it on nerves because it is not nerves. I am ready for these matches,"
In addition, Tsitsipas went into a further analysis of where he needs to improve, especially against the biggest players during the high-stakes matches. The 24-year-old believes these find margins of hitting the ball a bit deeper in crucial games can make the difference.
"I feel like I'm giving away unforced errors making them feel a little bit more comfortable of what they should feel like. I know I have big shots. It's just a matter of how I’m going to utilise them correctly. But it’s just deeper than that. It's not as easy as I make it look like in my head."
"If I’m able to close that miss less on the returns and sort of play them deeper, I can see a big difference in my game in terms of level raising."