Stefanos Tsitsipas, the new ATP darling.
Once in a great while, I watch a tennis match and have the niggling feeling that I’m experiencing a changing of the guard. It happened at the 2001 Wimbledon, when Roger Federer took out Pete Sampras and again (at Wimbledon. Go figure….) in 2006 when Rafael Nadal defeated Andre Agassi. But there’s more to it than just a youngster taking out a veteran.
Tennis is a sport of youth after all…well, usually it is. Considering who has won the last seven slams, that might be debatable at the moment; but as a general rule, it’s true. Guys get old and they start losing, or they’re Gustavo Kuerten and their hips refuse to function, and a new generation is born. Lather, rinse, repeat. It’s hardly surprising, but it IS occasionally special.
I felt it again this week when Stefanos Tsitsipas defeated Novak Djokovic. There was something different in the air at the tournament. The crowd was behind Tsitsipas–90 percent of whom probably cannot pronounce his name. This isn’t extraordinary on its own; Djokovic is not what you’d call a fan favorite (rather unfairly, if you ask me. He’s this era’s Martina Navratilova.) And crowds are quite known for getting behind a random underdog since nothing delights a sports fan more than witnessing the unexpected. But this wasn’t crowd support because an unknown was having a great match. This was awe (and the ensuing delight) at an unknown knocking the stuffing out of seed after seed in round after round.
Tsitsipas made them wonder why they hadn’t heard of him. And by the time he defeated Kevin Anderson in the semifinals, they had their answer. He WAS an unknown, but that was changing right in front of their eyes under the sometimes rainy Toronto sky. There was a very real chance that they were a part (passive though it may be) of tennis history. Current greatness clashed with future greatness–and the future won with surprising ease.
For his part of the story, Tsitsipas is only the youngest player since the ATP was the ATP to defeat four top-10 players at the same tournament. Should he defeat Nadal in Sunday’s final, pandemonium will ensue, and the tennis world will be turned on its ear.
Oh, and there’s the fact that he’s incredibly charming. So much so, that the reporters in his post-match press conference literally applauded AFTER he finished his presser. I have seen them applaud Federer and Nadal prior to a presser to thank them for a job well-done on court, but I’ve never seen them clap because the interview was just that good. Trust me when I tell you that there is definitely something with this guy and you should pay attention.
There is no guarantee that Tsitsipas will be the next Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal. But as I sit in the Rogers Cup media room waiting for the men’s final, I hear journalists as I write these words debating the correct pronunciation of his name. The uncertainty is focused on which syllable should be stressed. Is it TZEE-tzee-pas? Or tzee-TZEE-pas? The consensus so far? “We’re just going to call him Stefanos.”
Yeah. That’s what we call buzz. And that’s how a star is born. Personally, I couldn’t be more delighted that the final will be Nadal and Tsitsipas. The crowd will have to choose. Who to cheer for? Their beloved Rafa? Or do they cheer for the story? Past/present or future? My gut says they’ll go for the story, but with some regret. We’ll see.
In the meantime, I can guarantee that Under Armour and Nike were on the phone with the Tsitsipas camp before they got back to the hotel last night. And if they didn’t? Foolish. Very, very foolish. The kid’s a star.
[polldaddy poll=10078286]
[polldaddy poll=10078272]
Thoughts?
My word this boy’s a star
Very good read! Thanks Cheryl.
He does have the tennis skills, ability and personality to charm this tennis fan. Even as he beat my favortie, Novak, I still cheered him on, appreciating the Stefanos moment it was.
By the way there is a huge Greek community in Toronto, and they were out in force flying the Greek flag. And their cheers are for Stef-an-oh!
He’s adorable. He’s riding a wave. A lot of it was plain good luck. Djokovic was (once again) far, far from his best. Zverev folded monumentally (from 6-3, 5-2 up? – that’s the old Simona Halep country), no clue what happened to Anderson but he’s better than he played yesterday. Maybe Tsitsi IS the future – I hope so. But he’s not there yet. It gets tougher once you have something to lose. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him in the top ten at the end of the year, maybe even make the WTF. Next year is when we’ll see what he’s really got.
I think some of it was luck. I can’t explain the Zverev match. It was so monumentally bad from both players. Tsitsipas was good during the Djokovic match. The way he played made Novak uncomfortable. Same with Anderson. I don’t think either of those matches were down to luck.
As I said, there are no guarantees. He could have one great tournament and never do another impressive thing again and it wouldn’t be a shock…but I think there’s more in him than that. I’ve noticed a few qualities that I really like. He’s patient and he plays every point like it’s its own thing (rather Rafa-like). If the attention doesn’t spoil things, it should get interesting.
There’s an observable difference in how Stefanos feels about playing Sascha, as opposed to his usual mental emotional calm v everyone else. I saw it in Washington DC and it carried over to their match in Toronto. Stefanos played so fluidly and confident v Nole – and v Anderson. But v Sascha, Stefanos is too stiff and nervous, however this time vs Sascha, Stefanos, was able to get Sascha rattled or Sascha was unable to remain dominant — at any rate it was shocking to see how badly Sascha played a couple big points by the end of their match.
The point is: this nervousness and tension between them makes me eager to see what happens next! Will Sascha take charge and kick his ass like in D.C.? or will it be another 3 set battle? Can’t wait!! Hope to see them go at it in a GS soon, lol…
tournament will be remembered for Tsitsi, but Nadal will coast to the title
From your fingers to…
i would imagine so, but Tsitsipas has made a liar of me in every one of his matches except the one against Thiem. I’m not picking this time. haha.
I think Tsitsipas when playing against the top guys, feels that he’s the underdog so he plays like there’s nothing to lose.
Against his peers, however, he doesn’t feel that way. I remembered he saying how important it was for him to beat Shapo when they met on clay this year, after losing a few times to Shapo already. I guess after losing badly to Sasha at Washington, he was nervous facing Sasha again at Toronto. Maybe it matters to him when he is/was losing to his peers as he certainly won’t want to have a losing record against them whom will be his main rivals in the years to come.
Yes, against Sascha at least, it’s hard for Stefanos to maintain his composure – that is what I noticed in D.C. and again v Sascha in Toronto. Perhaps now that he has evened the score he can play his best v Sascha and vice versa. But all I know right now is that I want to see more of them going at each other LOL>…
Rafa is cruising in this final…it’s safe to say, I think
I’m so proud of Simona Halep. She fought like never before and so did Sloane Stephens! Sloane will want to play Simona again. And I hope to see more of their battles.
The final was actually more competitive than I expected. Stefanos just called Rafa a beast on court and said he isn’t normal. LOL.
Well, Stef is not the first opponent to have that reaction. Like most I really like the kid a lot but I was not the least bit conflicted over who I wanted to win that match!
A GOAT is a beast so technically yes!