Stefanos Tsitsipas shocked the world by announcing a split from his father as a coach a few days ago. While he said that he hadn't found a new coach, he was spotted with one.
It's been a few years since outside voices called Tsitsipas to change his father as his coach. While the dynamic worked for much of his early career, in recent years, the Greek player has been struggling with his level.
He played well at times, but that's mostly due to his talent. If we compare him to himself from five years ago, when he made his maiden Australian Open semi-final, the Greek is the same player.
He is not a better player, and some would argue he's actually worse, and that's a problem. The key to sustaining a successful career is to evolve as a player, and Novak Djokovic's career shows this.
He's improved slowly over the years and is still improving and adding to his game. That's the type of progression a player needs if they want to be the best, and Tsitsipas has not been able to do that.
Many have found the culprit in the dynamic between him and his father. People didn't necessarily blame his father directly, but the body language between the two looked very tense during matches.
There seemed to be some disconnect there, and even when he brought external help in the form of Patrick Mouratoglou and Mark Philippoussis, it still didn't work, even though it showed some promise.
To the surprise of many, Tsitsipas parted ways with his father as a coach, after suffering yet another disappointing loss recently. He was in Montreal for the Canadian Open and lost to Kei Nishikori in his first match.
That match also featured some tense exchanges between father and son, and after that loss, Tsitsipas announced that his father would not be his coach anymore.
Apostolos will still be around because he will keep traveling with his son, but he won't be actively involved in the matches anymore. Time will tell how that will actually work out because his father is known to be a very chatty tennis spectator.
In the same announcement, Tsitsipas further said that he's not found a new coach and will not rush to hire one, but he already has a new face in Cincinnati. Footage from his practice showed him with Dimitris Chatzinikolaou, the National Team Tennis Coach for Greece.
He is a very experienced individual who has been around the sport for many years and knows Tsitsipas very well. He was also the Team Leader for Greece at the Olympics, and funnily enough, it was some of the best tennis Tsitsipas has played in a long time.
Perhaps that positive experience prompted the Greek to bring him to Cincinnati, where he will try to challenge for another ATP Masters 1000 trophy.
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