Stefanos Tsitsipas Sheds Light On Using Blacked Out Racket Frame In Dubai
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Stefanos Tsitsipas played with a blacked-out racket fame during his 2025 Dubai Championships opening round match and explained why afterward.
Tsitsipas has endured a challenging start to the new ATP season, only winning three of his six matches, including first-round losses at the 2025 Australian Open and the 2025 Qatar Open in Doha.
His latest victory was on the opening day of the Dubai Championships against Lorenzo Sonego. Tstisipas survived a challenging opening set against the Italian before triumphing 7-6, 6-3 in the Middle East.
Some fans noticed the two-time Grand Slam runner-up's changed racket frame during the contest. When asked about it during his press conference, Tsitsipas said he made the adaptation because of the slow courts and balls on the ATP Tour.
"There have been some changes on the ATP tour... balls and courts have become slower and slower, and I'm just trying to adapt to that... One of the things I wasn't having a great time was these slow conditions."
The issue of the slow balls, in particular, is not new. Daniil Medvedev, who has had heated moments against Tsitsipas in the past, is a vocal critic of the balls, feeling they harm his chances against players like Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz.
However, Tstisipas' saying he is struggling with slow conditions is surprising. Medvedev has enjoyed the best success of his career on medium to medium-fast hardcourts, making his complaints to be expected.
By contrast, the Greek's most successful tournament by far has been the Monte Carlo Masters. All three of Tsitsipas' Masters 1000 titles have come at the event, which is usually rated as one of the slowest courts in the sport.
Some would have expected Tsitsipas to want the courts to be slow. Instead, the 2023 Australian Open finalist says it makes life more difficult for him and is something he has struggled to adapt to this year.
The conditions at the Dubai Championships are undoubtedly slower than they to be. Its courts used to be among the fastest on the ATP Tour, which is why Roger Federer's attacking game had so much success at the tournament.
Tsitsipas, who played solidly to beat Sonego in the opening round, has more time on his backhand return, usually the weakest part of the 26-year-old's game, because of the slower conditions in Dubai.
By contrast, the Greek's formidable serve is less damaging because the courts are not as fast. The swiftness with which the balls fluff up at ATP events throughout the year means even Tsitsipas can find it hard to hit aces.
Karen Khachanov will be Tsitsipas' opponent in the next round. The former Australian Open and US Open champion defeated Dan Evans in a repeat of their extraordinary match at last year's US Open, in which Evans won the longest match in the tournament's history.
That will be a challenging match for Tsitsipas. Although he played well against Sonego, the three-time Monte Carlo Masters champion might need to improve significantly to beat Khachanov.
