Stefanos Tsitsipas didn’t start the official season in the best possible way after he lost in straight sets to Denis Shapovalov in his inaugural match at the ATP Cup 7-6 (6) 7-6 (4). The Greek eventually scored 1 point more than Denis (84 vs. 83), but he wasn’t as sharp in the tiebreaks.
Injury concerns
Stefanos was obviously dejected after losing to the Canadian. He admitted that he was struggling with his right arm to comment:
“I’m going to try to work on it. It’s in my right shoulder, wrist. Usually, when I stop, I had a vacation for three weeks in a row and, obviously, had my pre-season. When I switched to the new conditions here from Dubai to here, first practice I had here was a bit irritating.
I didn’t feel good, to be honest. So today I woke up a bit sore in my arm and I was being a little bit stressed before the match because I didn’t know if I’m going to be able to serve, but I served okay. Pretty good, I can say for the standards that I was expecting. So that was the only issue today. But, obviously, my fighting spirit and the soul I put on the court is more important than injuries can also affect your performance, but it didn’t quite affect it today too much, no.”
Next vs. Zverev. H2H
Stefanos will face Sascha Zverev in his next match on the 5th of January. The head to head is 4-1 for the Greek that if fit, he is the favorite to win the encounter.
Stefanos Tsitsipas’s ranking and performance in 2020
Now ranked no.6, Stefanos played his last match on the 3rd of January when he had to bow to Denis Shapovalov 7-66 7-64 in the round-robin at the ATP Cup.
Denis Shapovalov’s ranking and performance in 2020
At the moment ranked no.15 (career-high), Denis defeated Tsitsipas 7-66 7-64 in the round-robin at the ATP Cup.
Stefanos Tsitsipas and Denis Shapovalov played each other 6 times. The head to head is 5-1 for Shapovalov. (including 2 matches at Junior level).
