Stefanos Tsitsipas reveals his two big goals for the 2024 season

Ewan West 27 Dec 2023 4:13 PM

A delighted Stefanos Tsitsipas after a match

Stefanos Tsitsipas has divulged he hopes to win an Olympic medal and a Grand Slam title in 2024 and recognised he must stay healthy in order to achieve his goals.

The Greek star also asserted that his plan is to “reboot” himself and prepare to deliver “something absolutely new” and “a different quality of tennis” next year.

On his only appearance at the Olympics, Tsitsipas was defeated by Ugo Humbert in three sets in the last 16 in Tokyo at the 2020 Games – which were held in 2021.

The tennis event at the 2024 Olympics will be held on the clay courts of Roland Garros – with the slow red dirt arguably the 25-year-old’s best surface.

Tsitsipas has reached two Grand Slam finals – losing to Novak Djokovic in both the 2021 French Open and the 2023 Australian Open title matches.

The Greek star led by two sets to love in the Roland Garros final, before the great Serb produced an impressive turnaround. He was then defeated in straight sets by Djokovic at the Melbourne Major in January.

The world No 6’s biggest title to date came at the 2019 ATP Finals in London, where he overcame Dominic Thiem in a final set tiebreak in the final. He is also a two-time ATP Masters 1000 champion, having triumphed at the Monte Carlo Masters in 2021 and 2022.

Tsitsipas outlined his two primary goals for the upcoming season and expressed his hope to avoid injury setbacks like the ones that held him back in 2023.

“I want to obviously bring an Olympic medal back to my country, that is a goal of mine. I want to win a Grand Slam title, that is also a goal of mine,” the Greek told The National.

“For sure, in order for me to do these things I need to be healthy because there was a time this season where certain circumstances didn’t allow me to perform at 100 per cent.

“What I’m talking about those instances, they appeared after the Australian Open this year, and towards the end of the season. I’m just hoping not to be that limited and to explore further in 2024.”

The former world No 3 also declared he can take confidence from his run at the 2023 Australian Open but explained he is not focusing on this.

“I can definitely gain confidence from that. However, I don’t reminisce and I don’t think too much about what happened in Australia this year,” the 25-year-old declared.

“My whole plan is to reboot myself and get myself going for something absolutely new this season with a different quality of tennis I may say.

“We have great quality of tennis players, ones that can push each other to the limits. I think the moment has come where tennis is at its peak in a way. I’m lucky to be in that era because it’s an era that is constantly developing and it kind of reaches new heights.

“My goal there is to improve my own qualities and my own tennis that comes with the whole package in order to compete against these players, because these are the fittest, strongest, most enduring tennis players that our sport has seen in a long time.”

Tsitsipas will start his 2024 season at the United Cup in Sydney, where he will team up with Greek compatriot and WTA world No 9 Maria Sakkari.