Stefanos Tsitsipas ‘curses and swears’ at his father before asking him to leave Vienna Open arena

ATP Tour

Shahida Jacobs
October 27, 2022

Stefanos Tsitsipas and his father are back in the news for the wrong reasons with the world No 5 accused of disrespecting Apostolos at the Vienna Open.

The Greek took on Dennis Novak in the opening round of the ATP 500 event in Austria on Wednesday, but he didn’t have it all his way as the local wildcard broke to love in game seven of the first set to go 4-3 up.

After losing his serve, Tsitsipas also lost his cool and he angrily marched towards his bench with Greek media reporting that he “swore and cursed” at his coach and father.

Not long after Tsitsipas asked Apostolos to leave the players’ box in the arena.

The second seed went on to win the match 7-6 (7-2), 6-2 in just under 90 minutes to set up a second-round clash against Borna Coric.

However, it is not the first time that Tsitsipas had fallen out with his father midway through a match as at the 2020 ATP Cup he angrily smashed his racket into his bench after losing a set and it broke into pieces with the debris ending up hitting Apostolos, who was coaching Greece.

His father was forced to leave the arena to get treatment on his bleeding arm.

They also came under fire at this year’s Australian Open as Daniil Medvedev lashed out as he felt Apostolos was coaching his son during their semi-final clash at Melbourne Park.

“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?” the Russian asked the chair umpire Jaume Campistol.

Meanwhile, in August this year Diego Schwartzman criticised Apostolos during a match at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati as he was also not impressed with his antics.

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

Tsitsipas, though, has always defended his father and he believes he is being targeted by his rivals.

On Wednesday Tsitsipas took to Twitter again to share one of his inspirational quotes, writing: “No one stays with you permanently. Learn to survive alone.”

Many believe it referred to Wednesday’s incident with his father.

Stefanos Tsitsipas