Madrid Open: Stefanos Tsitsipas hurls insults at his father, calls him stupid, and argues with umpire
Stefanos Tsitsipas won his first match in a month as he ended his losing streak at the Madrid Open, but the match was marred by an argument with the chair umpire and several insults directed at his coach and father, Apostolos.
Former world No 3 Tsitsipas has endured a torrid time of late on the ATP Tour as he has slipped to No 80 in the ATP Rankings as, before this week’s Madrid event, he had suffered four opening-round defeats in five tournaments.
But he finally tasted success again on Thursday as he defeated lucky loser Patrick Kypson 3-6, 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (7-4) to secure a second-round clash against eighth seed Alexander Bublik.
But the match against world No 90 Kypson was not without drama as Tsitsipas received a couple of code violations for speaking to his coach Apostolos and he was eventually hit with a point penalty in the third set by chair umpire Marijana Veljovic with the American serving at 2-2, [15-0].
The official announced: “Code violation, coaching, point penalty, Mr. Tsitsipas. 30-0.”
She then explained to the Greek: “If he talks to you in between the points from the beginning until the end.”
But Tsitsipas interrupted: “Does it bother my opponent? As far as I know, coaching is allowed.”
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Veljovic replied: “Yes, discreet. Stefanos, if talks to you when you’re on this side, when you’re on that side – If he talks to you in the whole duration between the two points, that’s just way too much.”
The Greek hit back: “Discreet? Is he bothering my opponent?”
Veljovic: “Not at this moment, but it’s against the rule.”
Tsitsipas: “You said not to talk when I’m on the other side of the court, which I’m doing. I’m actually doing. So why, when I’m on my side, it’s also not allowed?”
Veljovic: “It’s not allowed as much as he does it.”
Tsitsipas: “You’re just going to take a point like this from me because of some stupidity?”
Veljovic: “I have to. Didn’t I tell you? I have to do something about it.”
But his exchange with the umpire and his point penalty resulted in him losing his cool with his coach and father as he was overheard shouting insults in Greek at Apostolos, with whom he has had a difficult relationship, on several occasions.
Some of those include “Bastard, you piece of s***”, “Go f*** yourself, imbecile”, “F*** off” and “stupid”.
Tsitsipas eventually won the match in two hours and 41 minutes and admitted it was a much-needed victory.
“I really needed that win,” he stated. “It gives me confidence. I’ve been trying a lot to improve different areas of my game, but when you’re not getting wins, it’s hard to build trust and belief in yourself.”
