Tsitsipas hails return of his father: “I had a long time where I felt unsure of what I was doing on the court”

Stefanos Tsitsipas has been looking much more like his usual self in the past few weeks, having lost his way somewhat over the summer.

And it seems all it needed was his father, Apostolos, to return to the fold.

Father and son have been pretty much inseparable ever since Tsitsipas junior arrived on the world scene but at various times, the presence of Apostolos has seemed to add tension to the Greek’s game.

But after leaving him at home in the summer, Tsitsipas called his father back into his team as the Tour hit Asia and then most recently, Europe, the world No 6 has been rejuvenated. He reached the semis in Antwerp and Vienna and on Thursday, the quarters of the Rolex Paris Masters, which sealed his qualification for the season-ending ATP Finals for a fifth consecutive year.

“(It’s been) good, better, definitely better,” Tsitsipas told reporters, after beating Alexander Zverev in Paris on Thursday.

“I had a long time that I felt kind of unsure of what I’m doing on the court. My father was not with me for the US swing, and to me that was very foreign and unusual to not have my father be part of my team and my everyday planning and everyday training regime and schedule.

“I felt like the structure and the habits that I’ve been following the last few years were not repeated, were not done on a regular basis.”

Tsitsipas: “I was not playing well, to be honest”

Tsitsipas said his form dipped as a result but said he’s glad to have gone through a difficult period and come out the other side.

“I wasn’t playing well, to be completely honest,” he said. “I felt like that it was a very good and valuable lesson for me to have that in my life, in my career, so I get an understanding of how my training works best, who are the people that would be a better choice for me to be surrounded by.

“And once I started the China swing, I was very relieved and happy to have my father again to be putting hours of work on the court, to be committed to the work and and my job. And it was kind of a very different sensation to have that on a daily basis.”

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