Furious Tsitsipas Rants About His Backhand At United Cup: 'Impossible To Do Anything'
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Stefanos Tsitsipas was furious with his backhand repeatedly letting him down at the United Cup, angrily slamming his troubles with that shot during a changeover.
The 2025 United Cup has already produced many great and dramatic matches. It is a unique event that allows ATP and WTA players to compete together while representing their countries.
Iga Swiatek's matches at the United Cup have received much attention because it is her first WTA tournament since it was revealed she accepted a one-month suspension after testing positive for the banned substance trimetazidine.
The four-time French Open champion won in the singles and doubles of Poland's tie against Norway. She only dropped one game during her crushing singles triumph against the much lower-ranked Malene Helgo.
Team USA is arguably the strongest team in the United Cup. Its roster includes WTA Finals champion Coco Gauff, last year's US Open runner-up Taylor Fritz, and 2022 Australian Open runner-up Danielle Collins.
The Americans showed how difficult they will be to stop by beating Canada 3-0 before Gauff and Fritz also won their singles matches against Croatia during another 3-0 victory to reach the quarterfinals in style.
However, team Greece's tie against Kazakhstan generated headlines because of Tsitsipas' heated moment during his match against Alexander Shevchenko, who recently divorced fellow tennis player Anastasia Potapova.
Tsitsipas played in the opening singles match of the tie against Shevchenko. He knew his teammate Maria Sakkari would face 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina in the second singles contest, making a victory in his match crucial.
Unfortunately for the two-time Grand Slam runner-up, he struggled against Shevchenko. The flat-hitting Kazakhstani repeatedly targeted Tsitsipas' weaker backhand wing to devastating effect throughout the match.
Although Tsitsipas fought back from a break down in the second set, his backhand let him down again in the tiebreak, and he fell 4-6, 6-7. Greece went on to lose the tie 0-3, confirming its elimination from the 2025 United Cup.
Tsitsipas' emotions reached boiling point during the changeover at 3-4 and a break down in the second set. The 26-year-old vented about his backhand, swearing while claiming it was impossible to do anything with it.
"My backhand goes nowhere. I need to put a fu**ing truck behind it to make it work. It's impossible to do anything with it."
Many enjoy watching Tsitsipas's backhand because it is one-handed, which is becoming increasingly rare in modern tennis. Most players opt instead for two-handed backhands because they are easier to learn and offer advantages on return.
Roger Federer and Dominic Thiem have retired, Richard Gasquet will end his career at this year's French Open, and Stan Wawrinka will turn 40 in March. Those four men's one-handed backhands are among the best in tennis history, and not many are coming through to replace them.
Tsitsipas' backhand is not nearly as good as those men in their primes. It has been his achilles heel for many years and the main reason he has yet to win a Grand Slam since the Greek No. 1's game is so good in other areas.
