The Canadian Open brought the feud between Stefanos Tsitsipas and his father, Apostolos Tsitsipas, to light. The Greek star lost to the Japanese veteran Kei Nishikori in R2. Mid way through the match, Tsitsipas shouted at his father asking him to “immediately leave.” What followed Stefano’s devastating defeat was a big change in his team. Tsitsipas fired his father as coach. After over a month, Apostolos has finally opened up about the emotional aftermath of the dreaded day!
Although things quietened down with time, everyone was left wondering about the aftermath of the dreaded confrontation between father and son during the match. Finally, Apostolos shared his thoughts on the incident with the Newsit on September 28th and revealed that Stefanos did apologize to him, not once but many times. While narrating the reason for Tsitsipas’ emotional outburst, he said, “Athletes are under a lot of pressure. Many times they will go out of their way.”
Rightly so. It’s difficult for the spectators at times to understand the emotions of the players. And it certainly takes a good amount of time for the players as well to channel their emotions the right way. Apostolos praised his son, and further added, “At some point, someone will mature and understand that they have to manage it. Stefanos Tsitsipas is a very good boy and has a good soul.”
Apostolos further differentiated between judging the behavior of an athlete and the athlete in general. He said, “We do not judge the athlete, we judge his behavior in the stadium.” But in Tsitsipas’ case, it was not just his behavior that was criticized that day, the Greek’s stature as an athlete also took a hit. However, Apostolos revealed what happened in the aftermath.
“I received many apologies, not one. The problem is not the apology, the problem is for him to understand why this is the reason,” – Apostolos further remarked. It seems all is sorted within the family. The son apologized to his father, and both have moved on. But, even before Tsitsipas’ father opened up, his mother had already shared her views on the feud and how it affected their family.
“We are a close family,” said Stefanos Tsitsipas’ mother after the Canadian Open debacle
Canadian Open wasn’t the first occasion where Tsitsipas thought about replacing his coach. Back in 2020, after his loss at the US Open, the Greek star pondered over the same decision, before deciding to stick with his father as his coach. However, the Canadian Open this year eventually proved to be their last match as coach and protege, as Tsitsipas fired his father shortly after the tournament. His mother, Julia Apostoli, recently opened up about their relationship.
She said, “Of course, I think that Apostolos and Stefanos did not have such a good relationship since then. They had conflicts. And that’s why Stefanos made the decision to change coaches. We don’t see it as a tragedy.” Rightly so. It’s an evolution for the Greek’s career, rather than a tragedy. However, what’s more beautiful is the fact that the family stuck together throughout everything.
“We are all together and we are a close family,”- said Julia. Hopefully, we will see Stefanos Tsitsipas rise again and dominate the ATP circuit with the support of his family and new coach. What do you think about Tsitsipas’ future prospects?
Leave a Reply