Sakkari Starts Working With Tsitsipas' Ex-Coach Shortly After Split

| by Sebastian Dahlman

Stefanos Tsitsipas recently split from Mark Philippoussis but the former player is seemingly back to coaching a Greek player as he was spotted working with Maria Sakkari in Berlin.

Mark Philippoussis was once a great tennis player mostly noted for his grass-court prowess. He contested two grand slam finals (Wimbledon and US Open) winning 11 titles and peaking at number 8 in the rankings. That grass court prowess landed him a gig with Tsitsipas who wanted to improve his serve and grass play.

Both of those things came true under Philippoussis who borough some aggressiveness to the game of Tsitsipas, especially when it comes to rushing to the net. Despite the improvements, Tsitsipas recently announced a split with the coach. Following the split Tsitsipas explained that having two coaches was a bit too much which is why they decided to mutually part ways.

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A few weeks after that, Philippoussis is seemingly back in coaching. The Australian was spotted working with Sakkari in Berlin though it's unclear when the partnership came to be. The nature of it is unknown as well since Sakkari is still working with her long-time coach Tom Hill. Philippoussis might have joined as an extra during the grass season or might be part of the team.

There hasn't been any formal announcement from Sakkari or Philippoussis so fans will have to wait and see what happens but it's an interesting development. Philippoussis has Greek heritage and he went from working with the top-ranked ATP player from Greece to coaching the top-ranked WTA player.

Sakkari's season has been somewhat disappointing with a lack of strong results overall despite her totaling 21 wins in 33 matches. Grass has been a good surface for her as she can serve really well so perhaps Philippoussis allows her to tap into some undiscovered potential in that regard.

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