In the Monte-Carlo Masters semifinal, Stefanos Tsitsipas defeated Jannik Sinner 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, resulting in the Italian player’s only second loss of the year.
But suddenly there was a drama in the match. Still, there was one line call in particular that drew a lot of attention. The incident happened in the third set, while Tsitsipas was serving down 3-1* and faced a breakpoint.
Despite making a double error on breakpoint when the on-court officials miscalled the second serve, the Greek player was still able to escape the match. He would round off the match by winning four of the following five games. In the decisive set, Sinner would have won 4-1 if the double fault had been recorded.
During his post-match press conference, Tsitsipas addressed the error in calling and admitted that he was fortunate to avoid a double break, which would have been terrible for him at that point.
Tsitsipas expressed his thoughts about it and said: “It might have had a bigger influence on my opponent than it had on me. I was dealing with a breakdown at that moment. Of course, the double breakdown wouldn’t make things easier for me (smiling), and just holding serve there was crucial. I think the match would have turned out completely different if that would have been called out. I will agree that it would have been pretty bad for me if that call was made.”
He further said: “There are a lot of weird things on clay that we don’t see on other surfaces. One of them is the line calling and sometimes the marking. As someone who has played a lot on clay, I try and make the calls myself. I don’t rely too much on line umpires to do their job. Always, whenever I hit a ball that’s close to the baseline or the sideline that I think might be out, I hit it and I just have a quick look before I continue the point. So I have learned this way. That’s why I don’t get in conversations or arguments with umpires because I understand mistakes can happen. I try to rely entirely upon myself. That’s what I grew up doing.”
Stefanos Tsitsipas on the bad line call at 1-3 that went against Jannik Sinner, ‘the match would’ve been completely different if that ball was called out’
“It might have had bigger influence to my opponent than it had on me. I was dealing with a break down at that moment.
Of… pic.twitter.com/Cdn3WChoOJ— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) April 13, 2024
Stefanos Tsitsipas in 2024
Now the world no.12, Stefanos played his last match on the 14th of April when he defeated world no.10 Casper Ruud 6-1 6-4 in the final in Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters to win his 11th career title.
This season the Greek owns an overall 17-6 win-loss record. This year, Stefanos clinched 1 title in Monte-Carlo.
Tsitsipas conquered 1 title in 2024 in Monte-Carlo.
Stefanos won 11 titles in his career: 1 on hard courts, 4 on clay courts, 5 on indoor courts and 1 on grass courts. (See the list of his titles)
Jannik Sinner in 2024
WWWWWWWWWW Ranked no.2 (career-high), the Italian played his last match on the 13th of April when he was overcome by world no.12 Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-4 3-6 6-4 in the semifinal in Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters (draw).
Presently, during this year Sinner has achieved a compiled 25-2 match record. Jannik clinched 3 titles in 2024 at the Australian Open, Rotterdam and Miami.
Stefanos Tsitsipas and Jannik Sinner faced off 9 times. Their head to head is 6-3 for Tsitsipas. Previously, the last time they squared off, Stefanos Tsitsipas won 6-4 3-6 6-4 in the semifinal in Monte-Carlo (Monte) on the 13th of April 2024.
In the following video you can watch the key moments of their match.
