“I really like the state of mind that I am at currently” Tsitsipas looks to get back the looseness and spontaneity in his game

Tsitsipas opens his Stockholm Open campaign on Wednesday against American Maxime Cressy

Stefanos Tsitsipas, 2022 | © AI / Reuters / Panoramic

October 18, 2022

It’s been an interesting few weeks for Stefanos Tsitsipas. The world No 5 lost in the third round at Wimbledon to Nick Kyrgios in a match where the Australian managed to publicly get under the skin of the Greek player. That was followed by another early exit at the US Open – a four-set loss in the first round to Daniel Elahi Galan.

But in between, there have been some good performances as well – reaching the finals in Cincinnati and Nur-Sultan and playing for Team Europe in the Laver Cup alongside his idol Roger Federer and the rest of the Big 4.

This week, Tsitsipas, who has already qualified for the season-ending ATP Finals, is in Stockholm where he won his first trophy on the Tour in 2018 and where he is the top seed. The 24-year-old says he is feeling in a great place mentally after his deceptions in Grand Slam since his semi-final at the Australian Open.

Tsitsipas : “emotional roller coasters”

“I would call them (the last few weeks) an emotional roller coasters. Starting off with the US Open, which was probably one of the worst performances so far of my career. That particular match. I didn’t feel like myself at all on the court that day,” Tsitsipas said in an interview to Swedish television.

“The last couple of weeks have been great, it’s been a big transformation in terms of my psychological state. In terms of my love for the game as well. I’ve been much more in love with what I do. I feel much more connected with it. I feel much more happy to be out there on court and working every single day which is extremely important for me because this is what I do for a living. I really like the state of mind that I am at currently.”

Stefanos Tsitsipas at the 2022 Astana Open | © AI/ Reuters/ Panoramic

Tsitsipas back at the needed looseness and spontaneity

Tsitsipas added that he has been working on getting back the looseness and spontaneity back in his game, saying he felt he has lost some of that in the past few years as he tried to upgrade his game.

“I see more of myself, how I played the game three or four years ago, in a much more relaxed state,” the 2018 Stockholm Open champion said. “You can’t probably make that out from TV but I feel this way myself. Whether win or lose, you feel that you are on the right track, you are doing things you are supposed to do.”

Sometimes when you are trying to upgrade your game and bring your game higher, you kind of get stuck on those ideas and forget about the past values or things that brought you up there
Stefanos Tsitsipas

“And you, kind of, also lose track of things. Sometimes when you are trying to upgrade your game and bring your game higher, you kind of get stuck on those ideas and forget about the past values or things that brought you up there and made you successful. It’s important to memorize and remember those things and not let them go. What I have been focusing on in the last few weeks is regenerating that looseness and spontaneity in my game, which I feel I have lost in the last couple of years and something that I definitely had when I first started.”

Tsitsipas opens his campaign for a second Stockholm title and his third for the 2022 season on Wednesday when he takes on the net-rushing American Maxime Cressy in the second round.