Stefanos Tsitsipas makes big claim about men’s tennis amid massacre of Wimbledon seeds
Stefanos Tsitsipas believes the level at the top of men’s tennis is stronger than ever before, even though the dominant era of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic is at an end.
Two-time Grand Slam finalist Tsitsipas was knocking on the door of the biggest prizes in the sport in the opening phase of his career, but his ambitions tended to be halted by one of the ‘Big 3’ of Federer, Nadal or Djokovic.
The Greek star won the first two sets of his French Open final against Djokovic in 2023, before the Serbian roared back to beat him in a thriller.
Yet Tsitsipas believes the standards required to win a Grand Slam now may be even higher and not just because of the levels Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner are serving up at the top of the rankings.
The first week of Wimbledon has been dominated by the exit of big seeds, with No 3 seed Alexander Zverev and No 4 seed Jack Draper among the big names to crash out.
Now, in an exclusive interview with Tennis365 after we were invited to the launch of Adidas’s The London Originals Collection in London, Tsitsipas served up some fascinating insights into how the ATP Tour has changed since he broke through into the top 10 and why the challenge to win is more demanding than ever.
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“I did not experience the tour ten years ago, so I cannot say about what it was like to be at the top then because I was not active then, but as a first impression, I feel the tour today is a lot harder,” Tsitsipas told Tennis365, before he was forced to pull out of Wimbledon in the first round due to to a lower back injury when trailing 113th-ranked French qualifier Valentin Royer 6-3, 6-2.
“There are more players who can do damage to a top 10 player than we had before. Many more players are competing against each other than they were before. So in that regard, it is tougher to be in the top 30.
“I’m playing in the third of fourth round at a Masters 1000 tournament today and the level is not as it was when I started. It is higher now. You are getting players in the earlier rounds now than before.
“The number of players who can compete against the top guys has become bigger. There is less of that empty space that many have existed out of the top players in the past.”
Tsitsipas went on to suggest advances in the technology of rackets, equipment and physicality of players is leaping forward at a rapid pace.
“One reason for this is that I feel tennis has reached a point where the physicality has improved massively,” he stated.
“Access to technology, access to things that actually contribute to help to help the game. There’s a lot of good coaches today than back then, in my opinion.
“There’s a lot of good tennis organisations out there. I mean, you can see what Italy has done in the last couple of years. They’ve gone from a federation that was not competing for Grand Slam, suddenly to having lots of so many players in top 200 players now. Men of women.
“It shows you that everyone is after it. And a lot of people have resources now to try and make that happen.”
Tsitsipas has a long relationship with sportswear giant Adidas and he admits feeling good on court helps him to feel good on court.
“It’s not very often you feel comfortable on the court and I would not be very happy if I didn’t feel comfortable with what I was wearing,” he added.
“The court is not a place where you are supposed to feel too comfortable against your opponent. When you feel too comfortable, that can backfire very badly.
“But there is definitely that feeling of getting to a feel good place when you are on court. I have felt it a few times. You feel in a safe space and everything feels it is working. I describe it as a humble feeling, as it never last long.
“The great thing about working with Adidas is I know that I will feel good on court in the kit as they will never mess up on anything.”
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