The season of Stefanos Tsitsipas is taking an increasingly negative turn. The Greek champion has not played his best tennis since spring, when he won the Masters 100 in Monte Carlo for the third time in his career. The best Tsitsipas can only be seen on red clay, too little for a player who seemed destined to win several Grand Slam titles when he played his first matches in the ATP tour. Despite the triumph in Monte Carlo, Stefanos’ 2024 cannot be considered satisfactory. The 2019 Nitto ATP Finals champion has lost too many matches in which he was the big favorite and hasn’t even shone in the Grand Slam tournaments.
The feeling is that he has even regressed from a few years ago and that his opponents now know perfectly well his weaknesses. The Greek ace hopes to close the year with good results, but another premature elimination came in Tokyo. The former French Open finalist was defeated by young American Alex Michelsen with a score of 4-6 6-1 6-2 in an hour and 48 minutes.
After reaching the quarterfinals at the French Open, losing sharply to 4-time Grand Slam champion Carlos Alcaraz, Stefanos’ level dropped further and his separation from his father Apostolos came. The career of the Greek ace is likely to fall into the abyss if there are no improvements in the coming months. Tsitsipas needs a jolt, otherwise his descending parable might already be started.
Tsitsipas will play in Antwerp
The season is running fast and while the ATP tour is busy on the Asian hard court tournaments, the ATP has already made official the names of the participants of the first three stages that will be contested on their return to Europe. In addition to the 250 of Stockholm and Almaty, from 14 to 20 October will also play the ATP 250 of Antwerp 2024. Between the players called to ransom and young talents on the launch pad, we discover the Entry List of the Belgian tournament.
The ATP 250 in Antwerp will be one of the last chances for Stefanos Tsitsipas to correct a negative season, in here the only ring of the 26 year old arrived with the success at the Master 1000 in Monte Carlo and that saw him leave the Top 10. The Greek will be the number one seed and will try to earn points for qualifying for the ATP Finals in Turin. Number two seeded Felix Auger-Aliassime, another player who lived below the high in 2024. Sebastian Baez and Jordan Thompson follow. Last year’s two finalists, Alexander Bublik and Arthur Fils are not there.
The special observed will be the three Next Gen that have shone most this year. There will be the Frenchman Marcos Giron, the Czech Jakub Mensik and the 19-year-old Chinese Juncheng Shang, who won his first title at home in Chengdu against Lorenzo Musetti.
ENTRY LIST ATP 250 ANTWERP 2024:
Stefanos Tsitsipas
Felix Auger-Aliassime
Sebastian Baez
Jordan Thompson
Nuno Borges
Tomas Martin Etcheverry
Jiri Lehecka
Mariano Navone
Marcos Giron Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard
Roberto Carballes Baena
Arthur Rinderknech
Facundo Diaz Acosta
Roberto Bautista Agut
Jakub Mensik
Juncheng Shang
Botic van de Zandschulp
Zizou Bergs
A very tough period
Recently, the Greek champion has admitted all his current difficulties: “I’m nothing compared to the player I was before. I remember myself playing when I was younger, playing with adrenaline on the court, feeling like my life depends on the match. And these things, I feel like they have faded off, and let’s say my level of consistency hasn’t been as big.
I remember my concentration used to be at its highest, at its peak, back then, and that’s something that I felt has dropped a little bit. I know it sounds strange, but I feel like I need the hunger to reproduce the hunger I had back then. And I’m not a person that feels alright or settles for normal stuff. Like, I really want to regenerate it and bring it back because it brought a lot of joy to my tennis when I was able to feel that way on the court.
I really don’t know why it has dropped the last couple of months. I would even consider it like one to two years I’ve been feeling that way. I guess I was just able to hide it a bit better and put it to the side a bit more. I’m not an expert, I’m not a psychologist or psychiatrist, but I’ve had these discussions before with some of the people that I’ve spoken to and I do feel like there is some sort of like a long-term burnout.”
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