“Usually I’m much tougher mentally”: Tsitsipas on his loss at US Open
Stefanos Tsitsipas has open up about his struggles the past month, revealing that his mental toughness isn’t where it needs to be currently
AI / Reuters / Panoramic
Stefanos Tsitsipas has expressed his disappointment at his performance in the second round of the US Open on Wednesday, where the No 7 seed lost to world No 128 Dominic Stricker in five sets.
At one point, Tsitsipas was serving for the match at 5-3 in the fourth set, before losing in a tiebreak and dropping the deciding set 6-3.
In response, the Greek has confessed that his performance hasn’t been where it needs to be since his Los Cabos victory in early August.
Tsitsipas out of form since Los Cabos
“I was not good enough to deliver and score good results,” said Tsitsipas after his second round loss
“I won’t blame it on anything. It’s just poor performance after Los Cabos. Had a tough transition to Toronto where I dealt with really bad jet lag that I never had such kind of experience on tour.
“Had a very difficult match against Gael. I was actually thinking of retiring in that particular occasion but I went in and hoped that I can do something.”
The world No 7 lost in the first round of the Toronto Masters to Gael Monfils, and the second round of the Cincinnati Masters to Hubert Hurkacz.
“Otherwise, the other two results, including the one today, I have no reason to say anything. It was just pure competition. My opponent showed better tennis than I did.”
“I struggled with my movement today” – Tsitsipas
Tsitsipas went on to explain some of the specific reasons why he struggled against the Swiss today.
“His serve was a big weapon that served him really well. He’s very loose on the serve. If he gets in the zone, he can hit some really good serves.
“I struggled with my movement today a lot, and it was the main issue with my performance, I think. Movement wasn’t good at all. Although I did have a match before in which my footwork and my balance was relatively good. I wasn’t able to bring that into today’s match and be as consistent with it.
“I was off-balance, I was getting caught on wrong foot most of the time. The court seemed a bit faster than Armstrong, but that is not an excuse. It’s just that sometimes I had chances to hit the ball a bit, go for it a bit more, and I felt like the ball would skid through the court a bit faster, and it had me out of balance and I framed a few times.”
Mental toughness lacking for Tsitsipas at US Open
On his inability to convert a 5-3 lead in the fourth into victory, the 25-year-old was honest:
“Look, it hasn’t happened to me before. It’s the first time for me. Usually I’m much tougher mentally, and I have shown it by coming back. Even though sometimes I get broken serving for the match, let’s say, I still find ways in the tiebreaker or perhaps in the fifth set if that has ever happened.
“Today was not the case. I was not able to bounce back after it. Not as strong. Yeah, just need to be looser.”
The Greek will have plenty of time to reflect on what went wrong, with no more tennis in New York for the No 7 seed.
