Tsitsipas ready to win a Grand Slam – Eye of the Coach #36
In episode # 36 of Eye of the Coach, Patrick Mouratoglou explains what his player Stefanos Tsitsipas must do right in clutch situations in order to nail that breakthrough Grand Slam title.
“He is ready, he is playing great tennis at the moment and I know he’s going to win grand slams,” said Mouratoglou, as his charge bids to upset Rafael Nadal in his quarter final encounter on Rod Laver Arena.
The road to the quarters
Tsitsipas had the luxury of a walk over in the last round after Italian opponent Matteo Berrettini withdrew through injury, the Greek having beaten Mikael Ymer in the third round.
The recovery time may be of benefit to Tsitsipas, and he has past experience of beating Nadal, notably at the 2019 ATP Masters on clay in Madrid. Although the Spaniard boasts a 6-1 winning record in their match ups, Mouratoglou thinks there are ways that Tsitsipas could redress the balance on Thursday in Melbourne if he keeps his head in the right place.
He must keep the level high
“I think Stefanos Tsitsipas level is really high. The thing is his high level is extremely high, he can beat anybody, already beat everybody. Federer in a grand slam, Novak in a 1000, Rafa on clay in Madrid in Spain. Now, his low level was too low in the past and that’s why he was losing too often early in the grand slams, like what happened last year against Coric in the US Open, for example.
“You have good days, you have bad days in a grand slam during the course of a grand slam during 15 days, and one of the components to be able to win a grand slam is to win when you are in a bad day. He tended to panic a little bit on those moments, which is mental but also tactical.”
Don’t panic and slow things down in pressure situations
“Because he was panicking, he was playing too fast, he was playing too flat and he was adding stress to the stress because when you play flat, the ball comes back flat and you can’t accelerate the game in a moment of stress, which brings stress to another level. I think he understood that, and now he’s playing with more height, more depth on the moments he’s under pressure.
“I think he improved. He played the ATP Cup just before the Australian Open, played extremely well, really impressive. He had a bad day against Kokkinakis and he found a way to win it. That’s a good sign for me, so is he ready to win a grand slam? I think yes. It’s just a question of time. It’s difficult to say when. But he’s on the way.”
