Stefanos Tsitsipas facing alarming rankings slide after Monte Carlo exit
Stefanos Tsitsipas has struggled to find his best form over the last 12 months and now he is set to face a brutal punishment after his defence of the Monte Carlo Masters title came to an end.
Lorenzo Musetti sealed a stunning win over Tsitsipas to book his place in a maiden ATP Masters 1000 semi-final with a thrilling 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory.
That outcome appeared to be highly unlikely after a one-sided first set that saw three-time Monte Carlo champion Tsitsipas highglight his prowess on a court that has given him so much success.
Yet with the Italian fans in the stands cheering on Musetti, he found a way to snap back as he saved 14 of the 17 break points he faced.
Tsitsipas then double faulted down break point at 3-3 as Musetti stormed towards an emotional win in two hours and 21 minutes.
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“Today was a really tough match,” said Musetti. “I knew that before today I never beat him and we played five times.
“Especially on clay, I knew against a three-time champion, definitely not an easy job today,” said the Paris Olympics bronze medalist, who captured his ninth Top-10 win. “I found a way and I was increasing during the whole match. Really, really happy and proud of this win.”
The tears of joy flowed for Musetti, but it was a very different emotion for Tsitsipas, as he failed in his mission to defend the 1,000 ranking points he had on the line after his win in Monte Carlo a year ago.
Tsitsipas started this week at No 8 in the ATP Rankings, but he is set to slide down to No 16 after his quarter-final exit.
He also has plenty of points to defend over the next few weeks after he reached the final of the ATP 500 tournament that will be played again next week.
Tsitsipas was also a quarter-finalist at the Rome Masters and also in the French Open at Roland Garros.
That means the Greek star has a little over 900 ranking points to defend over the rest of the clay court season and he did suffer a few early defeats in upcoming tournaments, he could find himself outside of the top 20 on the ATP Rankings.
“I just feel like I could have done way more today,” said Tsitsipas. “I missed forehands I never miss. I was actually quite surprised to see those forehands go out or to the net.
“I’m not used to it, especially on clay. Maybe on hard a bit more, but I feel like I can — I’m just used to different angle and a different launch angle from my racquet. I just felt like when situations kind of got tight, just seemed like I couldn’t control the ball at all.
“The serve definitely was the thing that kind of was missing, but also, it didn’t help me when I needed it. I was playing with a second serve. The entire second and third set, I was playing with just one serve.
“It’s difficult to accept. I mean, feeling so confident playing on this court and not being able to win a match that I felt I kind of had every reason to try and win is definitely heartbreaking,” said the 26-year-old.”
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