LONDON — Former Australian tennis player Mark Philippoussis analyzed Stefanos Tsitsipas’ current situation following the Greek’s professional “divorce” from his father, Apostolos.
“He needs to rediscover not just his confidence, but his game,” Philippoussis said in a conversation with Greek journalist Vicky Georgatou for SDNA.
Philippoussis knew the former world No. 3 and his surroundings well: he was part of his coaching staff in 2023 and worked side-by-side with Apostolos Tsitsipas. Before the start of Wimbledon, the 12-time ATP title winner revealed that he had dismissed his father from the coaching role for good.
“I don’t know whether this decision will help him, to be honest,” the 49-year-old Australian admitted.
“Watching him, it’s clear he’s struggling to find his confidence. You can see it in the tennis he’s playing. Whatever decisions he makes, he’ll make them himself. Whether they’re right or wrong, I don’t know. He’s the one making the decisions from now on and that’s how it should be.
“He’s dropped a lot — not just in the world rankings, but in the level of his tennis and in the way he should, in my opinion, be competing. I hope he finds that again and gets back to where he was,” he added.
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During his own playing days, Philippoussis also had his father as a coach, but his staff included other coaches as well: “Stefanos understood how important it was to have a different voice, someone who could help. At the end of the day, what he wanted was for there to be a person beside us who would help his son become a better tennis player.”
The former world No. 8 didn’t hold back praise for Apostolos and the entire family project: “Stefanos and his parents are very close. We should also say that his father and mother built an incredible tennis player literally from nothing, taking him all the way to No. 3 in the world. He’s won some of the biggest tournaments on the planet and they should feel very proud of that. Beyond that, at some point in your life you may reach a stage where you need something more.”
Does Tsitsipas still have a chance to return to his former self? Can the Greek maintain the level that took him to two Grand Slam finals and an ATP Finals title? His former coach believes so.
“At 28 it’s not too late, but the road back is long. The most important thing is that he stays healthy. But he’ll need to do a lot of things just to get close to the level he was at before. When you’re No. 3 in the world, everything is great. You’re seeded at tournaments, you travel on private planes, everything is perfect. But when that stops and you have to play smaller events, in front of fewer people on smaller courts, do you have the determination to go through that process and fight?” the 2003 Wimbledon finalist asked.
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Philippoussis compared Tsitsipas’ current form to the decline and subsequent resurrection experienced by Andre Agassi between 1996 and 1998. The American, according to Philippoussis, should serve as a mirror for Tsitsipas: “Andre did it. He went and played Challenger tournaments. He didn’t think he was above that. He had a plan, a vision of where he wanted to go, and he knew that was the road back. Does Stefanos have that vision, that competitiveness, that fight? That’s the big question. Does he have the will to do whatever it takes to come back? I don’t know. Only he can answer that.”
Philippoussis also offered a deep analysis of the Greek’s second-round Wimbledon match against Novak Djokovic, where the Serb advanced comfortably with a 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 victory. The Australian saw a deflated Tsitsipas.
“I spoke afterwards with his manager, who asked me what I thought. I told him I saw a player with no game plan. He walked on court and simply served and rallied. No plan. Has he lost his confidence? Is he no longer hitting the ball the way he used to? Yes. But even so, there was no attempt to change anything, to vary his game, to mix up the rhythm. That’s what struck me most,” the Australian detailed.
“The difference in level was clear. Novak never looked under pressure. He was very relaxed and seemed to have all the time in the world on every ball. Stefanos, by contrast, looked rushed. He was forcing things too much and generally didn’t look comfortable on court.”
