“They had constant conflicts” – Tsitsipas’ mother on son removing father Apostolos as coach

Stefanos Tsitsipas‘ mother Julia Apostoli recently opened up on the Greek’s move to remove his father Apostolos as the coach. Apostolos had coached Tsitsipas for his entire life before a fallout in August 2024.

It happened after Tsitsipas couldn’t get the better of Japan’s Kei Nishikori in the second round of the Canadian Open.

Hours after the shocking loss, the world No 12 announced in a lengthy X (formerly Twitter) post written in Greek that Apostolos would be traveling with him but not in the capacity of a coach.

Tsitsipas, who turned pro in 2016, achieved impressive success under his father, reaching a career-high ranking of world No 3, winning 11 singles titles, and playing two Grand Slam finals, at the 2021 French Open and 2023 Australian Open.

The Greek’s mother Julia, who was a formidable force in the juniors, spoke highly of him in a recent conversation with ANT1’s Proino.

“Stefanos has done very well so far, but he doesn’t have such great feelings for tennis. There were things in his life that distracted him, but made him happy,” Julia said.

She revealed that Tsitsipas and Apostolos had been at odds since the 26-year-old suffered a third-round loss at the 2020 US Open.

“He is a professional and although he loves his father very much, he understands that he has to find another coach,” Julia added.

“Since 2020 when he lost the US Open, we decided with Stefanos to change coach Apostolos. But four years passed and Stefanos was bringing good results. However, I think that Stefanos and the Apostolos did not have a good relationship since then, they had constant conflicts.”

Julia further noted that the split hasn’t affected them as a family and it was required, given Apostolos stressed too much on tennis.

We don’t see it as a tragedy.”

Julia Apostoli

“We are a close-knit family. Apostolos, as a coach, had gone deep into Stefanos’ job and did not realise that he was putting pressure on him. He only had tennis in mind,” she concluded.

Stefanos Tsitsipas is currently in Berlin for the 2024 Laver Cup. He, along with Alexander Zverev, Carlos Alcaraz, and others, is set to represent Team Europe’s challenge against Team World at the event beginning on Friday, September 20.

He is receiving training from fellow Greek Dimitris Chatzinikolaou.