Stefanos Tsitsipas’ father courts controversy again: ‘Tell me one person who likes his father’

ATP Tour
Stefanos Tsitispas unmoved

Stefanos Tsitsipas’ father is once again in the firing line with Diego Schwartzman unimpressed with Apostolos Tstisipas’ antics during the third-round of the Western & Southern Open.

Fourth seed Tsitsipas had too much in his locker for Schwartzman as he beat the Argentine 6-3, 6-3 in just over 90 minutes at the ATP Masters 1000 event.

The Greek dominated the match with two breaks in the first set and three in the second although Schwartzman did have a break in each set. The Argentine, though, made 33 unforced errors and also served nine double faults during the one-hour and 37-minute match.

There was drama midway through the match as Schwartzman was upset with how the Tsitsipas team was communicating when he was at their end. The 13th seed felt they were trying to distract him by speaking in English rather than Greek when he was close-by.

“Tell me one people [sic] who likes his father,” the Argentine told umpire Renaud Lichtenstein, referring to Apostolos Tsitsipas.

Schwartzman later admitted that he should not have allowed the Tsitsipas coaching team to get into his head.

But it is not the first time that Tsitsipas Sr. has made headlines for the wrong reason as he came under fire from Daniil Medvedev at the Australian Open with the Russian aggrieved as he felt Apostolos was giving his son instructions during the match.

“His father can talk every point. Are you stupid? I’m talking to you, look at me. How can you be so bad in the semi-final of a Grand Slam?” he shouted at chair umpire Jaume Campistol.

Stefanos, though, denied the accusations of on-court coaching and felt players were targeting him.

“I cannot hear anything when I’m playing. It’s impossible. Having the crowd being so loud in every single point, you have to have super hearing to be able to hear what your coach says,” he said.

“I’m used to it. They’ve been targeting me already a long time. I feel like I’ve gotten a few in the past, and the umpires are always paying attention to my box, never paying attention to the opponent’s box. I feel I have been a victim of that for a long time now.”

Back in 2020 Frenchman Corentin Moutet described Apostolos as “disrespectful” and “stupid” during their Ultimate Tennis Showdown match in France.

“I won’t speak about Stefanos, because he’s a good guy. But it’s just (his) father is stupid, everyone thinks he’s stupid,” Moutet told commentators during the fourth-quarter break. “He’s speaking when I’m serving, all the time. It’s not respectful.”

There is good news for the Tsitsipas family as the ATP is trialling on-court coaching until the end of the US Open. Coaches can give verbal and non-verbal instructions from a designated seat, but it should not interrupt play or hinder an opponent.

Diego Schwartzman Stefanos Tsitsipas

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