At 21 years of age, Stefanos Tsitsipas is one of the most exciting youngsters on tour because of his interesting personality and enjoyable tennis. The Greek sensation has already reached a world no.5 high-rank, and he is in a good position to qualify for the ATP Finals in London.
However, Stefanos didn’t shine in the past few months. Tsitsipas had a below-par stint on grass where eventually he lost in the opening match in Wimbledon. Furthermore, he had a horrible campaign in North American where he lost the last 3 matches. The Greek wasn’t impressive at all in Montreal and Cincinnati where he was defeated in the opening match on both occasions.
Why Tsitsipas can surprise at the Flushing Meadows
Even if Stefanos’ rank is now “only” no.8, the Greek as still some chances to have a deep run at the upcoming US Open for the following reasons.
1- Big Stages. Stefanos has already accumulated a good experience about playing on big stages after he reached the semifinal at the Australian Open in January. Furthermore, he also played 2 ATP Master1000 finals in Toronto (2019) and this year in Madrid. Therefore, he knows what to do to have deep runs in major tournaments and facing top players on important courts.
2- He beat all the big3. The Big3 will represent one of the biggest barrage for Stefanos at the US Open. However, he has beaten all of them in the past, and therefore he would not be intimidated if he has to face Federer, Nadal, or Djokovic.
3- Flat competition? It’s an interesting moment right now as not many players seem to be in great form.
The big3 are obviously the favorites to win the last slam of the year. However, after Cincinnati Djokovic may deal with a problem with his elbow that could seriously hamper his chances at the US Open, especially in the later stages (see article). Rafael Nadal is well known to struggle with his body when playing the slams on hard courts and if he has just 1 long match during the US Open fortnight his chances to win the title may go down dramatically. Roger Federer looked extremely flat in Cincinnati to lose in straight (and very quick) sets against Andrey Rublev.
Talking about the other players, Daniil Medvedev is in fantastic form, but he has just played 16 matches in 20 days. The Russian admitted that he needs to rest ahead of the US Open campaign. Sascha Zverev looks completely lost because of his personal problems. Last year’s finalist, Juan Martin Del Potro is still out after his knee injury; Stan Wawrinka, Marin Cilic, and Kevin Anderson do not look good enough (at least right now) to have a deep run at the Flushing Meadows.
It’s clear that Stefanos has not been playing at his very best recently, but isn’t this the right time to make a move?
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