Tsitsipas on having a relationship within tennis : “We can understand each other’s lives so much better”

Stefanos Tsitsipas and Paula Badosa recently rekindled their romance. Both players have advanced at Roland-Garros.

Imago/Panoramic

May 29, 2024

Love may mean nothing in tennis, but it’s certainly in the air at Roland-Garros.

Stefanos Tsitsipas and Paula Badosa recently got back together. Jannik Sinner at his pre-tournament press conference confirmed his relationship with Anna Kalinskaya. Alex de Minaur and Katie Boulter are still going strong.

Tsitsipas and De Minaur have faced each other twice already this season (the Greek rolled in Rome to take an 11-1 lead in the head-to-head series) and — interestingly enough — their girlfriends squared off in the French Open first round on Tuesday. Badosa battled to 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 victory over Boulter.

to have a person by your side that you love and can comfortably and mutually and reciprocally talk about tennis…I think it’s a breath of fresh air.
Stefanos Tsitsipas

Following his second-round win over Daniel Altmaier on Wednesday afternoon, Tsitsipas was asked about the benefits of dating a fellow pro.

“I feel if there are things I don’t quite get as much or feel like I’m as well in touch with regarding my job, I can always reach out to my partner who has spent the same amount of time that I have spent on the court trying to figure out the game, which is a small benefit to my life,” the world No 9 explained. “We both share the same passion and we both do the same thing in life.

“So to have a person by your side that you love and can comfortably and mutually and reciprocally talk about tennis in our case, I think it’s a breath of fresh air to have a person like that that you can trust. I think in my case that person knows a lot about tennis and analyzes the game pretty well.

“Outside of it, we still have times where we completely disconnect from tennis and we focus on our other hobbies that we find interest in. It’s a great relationship, because we can combine from both worlds and we can understand each other’s lives so much better than any other type of relationship because we know the struggles of it. We know our routines or maybe some of…our own rhythms obviously before and after a match. Superstitions, let’s call it. A superstition, yeah. Our superstitions we get better than any other couple relationship, because tennis comes with it. It’s natural.”

In addition to the benefits mentioned by Tsitsipas, tangible gains can also be made on the court. A significant other who knows the X’s and O’s of the sport better than almost anyone else can also serve as an extra coach of sorts.

“We talk a lot about tennis,” Tsitsipas said of Badosa. “Our primary goal is to help each other figure certain things out. We have a lot ofquestions for each other. I feel like we’re equally as knowledgeable in our craft and hold a lot of understanding of how certain situations shall be dealt with. That’s because of experience that we have accumulated over the years.

We talk about equipment. We talk about things that we can improve. Paula keeps saying all the time, and it annoys me, that she wishes she had my forehand. I tell her I’m sorry but that’s not possible, so you have to find ways around it. Sometimes I also think, ,Oh, gosh, I wish I had her returns.’ She destroys the ball on the returns, and it seems so effortless from her side.

“We try and learn from these things and obviously share a vision of how we proceed with certain things in our sport.”

So far so good for both of them this week in Paris.