Will Stefanos make it into the top 3? Tsitsipas sets Grand Slam target for 2020
After breaking through in the 2019 ATP singles tour, Stefanos Tsitsipas could be the one of the next top seeds. Despite his struggle in winning his first Grand Slam title on the 2019 tour, Tsitsipas recently stated that he has set his eyes on finishing as top three of men’s tennis. Naturally this is a sport dominated by Nadal, Djokovic and Federer over the last decade.
Stefanos Tsitsipas is a Professional Greek tennis player presently on the ATP men’s singles tour. He was formerly ranked the world no.1 on the junior tour, and is also the youngest player in the Top 10 men’s ranking, at the age of 21 years old.
His Father, Apostolos Tsitsipas, has been Stefanos’ tennis coach since he was 12 years old; whilst his mother, a former professional tennis player on the WTA tour, helped to discipline him in the sport.
Tsitsipas’ 2019.
With the help of his parents, the Greek player started off the year on the right foot by reaching the semi-finals of the Australian Open in January for the first time. He went up against Federer in the 4th round in the Rod Laver Arena and won in four sets.
Stefanos Tsitsipas described the widely anticipated match as “a dream come true” as it helped him enter the top 10. He went on to say “Having the chance to play Roger Federer on Rod Laver Arena… it felt unreal then and the memories will always bring a huge smile to my face.”
Marcos Baghdatis, the retired Cypriot tennis player, said: “I compare him to Roger Federer of the future. I think he can achieve things that are abnormal like Roger”.
Rusedski has also made comparisons between the young Greek player and Federer, 20-time Grand slam champion. The former British no.1 said “He [Stefanos] has the competitive nature of Andy Murray but he also has a calmness which reminds me of Roger Federer.”
However, after his victory against Federer, Tsitsipas lost the semi-final of the Australian Open to world no.1 Rafael Nadal. This was due to a number of unforced errors on his 2nd serve and double faults.
Further into the season, Tsitsipas faced off Djokovic at the Mubadala semi-final. He managed to get through to the final only to be narrowly defeated by Nadal once again by 5 points. Following the match, Nadal said on the Tennis Channel: “Playing against Stefanos is always a big challenge for me – he’s young and he has a lot of energy.”
Over the last season Tsitsipas has played all 4 grand slams including the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and US Open. However, he only reached one semi-final and is yet to win a Grand slam title.
During the Roland Garros French Open Stefanos only managed to reach the 4th round which he lost to Wawrinka after a gruelling 5 set match. In both the Wimbledon and US Open he had early exits as he lost early on in both Grand Slams.
What 2020 could bring for Tstsipas.
Having said that, Tsitsipas is making Tennis history for Greece.
He is the first Greek player in 83 years to reach the French Open round of 16.
He also became the first Greek player to win the ATP finals on 17 November 2019, which is the second highest tier tournament and became the biggest win of his career so far, proving that he has the skill and dedication needed to be able to dethrone one of the top 3 seeds in the approaching year.
Due to this ATP win, the champion is currently ranked as no. 6 with 5300 ranking points. Not far off from Roger Federer, whom is world no.3 with 6590 ranking points.
Come the new tennis season in 2020, Tstsipas has said he is “ready to end the big 3 dominance”. He has reiterated that he will do so by winning his first Grand slam title.
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