Stefanos Tsitsipas

De Minaur vs Tsitsipas Washington 2026: Top Seed Snaps Head-to-Head Curse

July 29, 2026 by tennisbloggers Leave a Comment

Alex de Minaur finally turned the tables on his toughest rival on Tour, beating Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 in the first round of the Mubadala Citi DC Open on Wednesday to begin his defence of the Washington title.

De Minaur Tsitsipas Washington 2026: A Lopsided Rivalry Reversed

It was far from a straightforward assignment. Tsitsipas had won 12 of the pair’s previous 13 meetings on the Lexus ATP Head2Head, giving De Minaur about as unfavourable a draw as a defending champion could face in round one. The Greek had also held the upper hand in their recent encounters, including their most recent clash in Miami back in March.

Tsitsipas actually looked the more dangerous player early, racing out to a 4-2 lead in the opening set. De Minaur answered by winning four straight games to snatch it 6-4. The World No. 51 Tsitsipas found another gear to level things at a set apiece, but De Minaur reasserted himself in the decider, closing out the match 6-3 behind his trademark court coverage and defensive resilience after just over two hours on Stadium Court.

Match Stats and De Minaur’s Own Words

Speaking afterward, De Minaur credited a change in his service tactics for finally cracking the code against Tsitsipas, noting that in the past his serve hadn’t held up well against the Greek but that switching things up “ended up working out for me” this time. He was candid that it wasn’t his cleanest tennis, but said he was satisfied to have found a way through a tricky, low-key affair just days after his wedding.

The win extends an impressive run of form at this level: De Minaur now leads the ATP Tour with 60 match wins at ATP 500 events since the start of 2023, ahead of Carlos Alcaraz (50-6) and Alexander Zverev (50-19) on that same list. He’s also improved to 28-14 on the season and is competing as a tour-level top seed for just the fifth time in his career.

Defending Champion Status on the Line in Washington

The win is especially meaningful given the venue. De Minaur arrives in Washington as the reigning champion, having saved three championship points last year to beat Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in an epic three-set final. Doing it again while dismantling a genuine bogey opponent sends a clear signal to the rest of the draw that his form from 2025 hasn’t gone anywhere.

What’s Next After De Minaur’s Tsitsipas Win in Washington

Up next for the Australian is a second-round meeting with 17-year-old countryman Cruz Hewitt, son of ATP No. 1 Club member Lleyton Hewitt, who was in the stands at Stadium Court to watch De Minaur’s win. It’s a storyline made for Washington: the defending champion against a teenage wildcard with one of the most recognisable surnames in Australian tennis, and with Hewitt Sr. watching from courtside once again.

De Minaur will be the clear favourite, but as Wednesday’s result proved, recent history in Washington counts for very little once the ball is in play.

Inspired Stefanos Tsitsipas Back On The Podium In Monte Carlo

April 15, 2024 by Randy Walker Leave a Comment

by William Turvey and Lisa Pasquariello

Via TenniUpdate newsletter

Despite his enormous talent, Stefanos Tsitsipas has had a rough go of it recently.

Despite this, something about the clay of Monte Carlo clicked this week, and for that matter, always has as the Greek is a three time champion in the tiny country. Since the Round of 16, the 25-year-old faced all seeds, with a knockout knocking on the door at any moment. Despite this, he defeated Alexander Zverev, Karen Khachanov, Jannik Sinner, and Casper Ruud, consecutively. His clash against Sinner made headlines,
with the Italian dubbed as the “best player in the world right now,” despite a defeat to Tsitsipas.

And his final wasn’t easy either—he was facing the guy fresh off of beating Novak Djokovic. But he showed enormous concentration and potential during the match, kicking Ruud off the court with a 6-1, 6-4 victory.

Both men’s stats were not too fine, with Tsitsipas’s first serve % coming in at only 40. But the Greek’s experience played key, with him winning seven games in a row at one point during the match.

“It has been very difficult, so to be back on the podiums, winning tournaments just feels amazing. I can’t thank my family enough and friends, and if there is God out there, for making this moment possible. I am extremely grateful for every person behind this journey. The third time is even more special than the first or second time. This is an unbelievable win for me. Capturing that win today was nerve-wracking. I really wanted this trinity.”

Wimbledon Day Eight Picks – Will The Chris Eubanks Run Be Stopped By Stefanos Tsitsipas?

July 9, 2023 by tennisbloggers Leave a Comment

Carlos Alcaraz vs. Matteo Berrettini

Carlos Alcaraz has been battling the last two rounds to stay alive at Wimbledon this year and he will face another battle against the rejuvenated Matteo Berrettini, a former singles finalist at the All England Club. Many may take a stab at an upset here, but with think Alcaraz will again “escape” this one. As Jill Crabas said on Radio Wimbledon, the Alcaraz inside out forehand will wear down the weaker Berrettini backhand.

Daniil Medvedev vs. Jiri Lehecka

Not many people are talking about Daniil Medvedev as a threat to win the title, but keep an eye on him. Jiri Lehecka is vastly improving and making a name for himself this year with some strong results but the deep belief to go even deeper at a Grand Slam tournament is still brewing. Medvedev wins this in four sets.

Stefanos Tsitsipas vs. Chris Eubanks

We don’t want to kill Bambi, but the Chris Eubanks run has to end somewhere, right? Stefanos Tsitsipas just has too much game and too much experience and will advance here. Kudos to Eubanks for his amazing run of success and he may just get seeded at the US Open later this summer!

Wimbledon Day Four Picks – Does Stefanos Tsitsipas Have Enough In The Tank Against Andy Murray?

July 5, 2023 by tennisbloggers Leave a Comment

Casper Ruud vs. Liam Broady

When a British fast-court player who is not afraid to play on grass is drawn against a European clay-courter who went deep at the French Open and skipped the entire grass court season leading into Wimbledon, you would more likely to pick the Brit in this scenario right? However, in this second round Centre Court match at Wimbledon between Liam Broady and Casper Ruud, we are going to go with the two-time French Open runner-up. This is not your grandfather’s grass courts and it is not as much of advantage for the fast court players against the clay courters. Remember, Ruud also got to the U.S. Open final last year on faster courts.

Andy Murray vs. Stefanos Tsitsipas

Stefanos Tsitsipas doesn’t have a lot of time to recover mentally and physically from his fifth-set tiebreaker win late Wednesday over Dominic Thiem. To boot, beating an in-form, fit and highly motivated Andy Murray on Centre Court at Wimbledon is about as tough an ask as you can have. Murray wins this in four sets, but look for Tstisipas and girlfriend Paula Badosa to have some fun in mixed doubles and hopefully make a run.

Donna Vekic vs. Sloane Stephens

Sloane Stephens has the better resume in her match with Donna Vekic with a U.S. Open title and a French Open runner-up but Vekic is higher-ranked and a better UTR (12.64 to 12.43). Vekic has a runner-up showing in Berlin on grass under her belt and we think she will prevail here in three sets as she seems to be trending upward of late and benefitting from the wisdom given to her by her coach Pam Shriver, who has won a lot of grass court matches in her career. Vekic could make a nice run here this year.

Wimbledon Day Two Picks – Will Stefanos Tsitsipas Have More Time For Social Media Fun With Paula Badosa?

July 3, 2023 by tennisbloggers 1 Comment

Dominic Thiem vs. Stefanos Tsitsipas

Stefanos Tsitsipas is in a good way in life…he’s in love with WTA pro Paula Badosa and their romance and their documentation of it on social media has been quite a sensation. However, since he has gone “public” with his relationship, his record is 1-3. While on paper, Dominic Thiem is a dangerous first round opponent as a former U.S. Open champion, the Austrian has struggled to get back into his top 5 form. He has lost in the first or second round at Wimbledon in five of his six previous appearances so we are going with Tsitsipas to move through here.

Andy Murray vs. Ryan Peniston

Andy Murray may feel more comfortable playing on Centre Court at Wimbledon than he does lying on his sofa at his home. Ryan Peniston, a fellow Brit, will feel anything but comfortable on Centre Court playing against the legend of his home nation. Murray will win in straight sets.

Aryna Sabalenka vs. Panna Udvardy

There are a lot of tough matches to pick on Day Two of Wimbledon on the women’s side. So let’s go with one that we are almost 100 percent sure of. Sabalenka, the No. 2 seed, will advance here. Shelby Rogers and Elena Rybakina will be a tough match to call. Rogers could pull the upset.

Stefanos Tsitsipas (Gre) in action during his 1st round men’s single match against Fabio Fognini (Ita) on day 3 at the Rolex Monte Carlo Masters 2022

Roland Garros Day 10 Picks – No Stopping Djokovic vs. Alcaraz Collision

June 5, 2023 by tennisbloggers Leave a Comment

Novak Djokovic vs. Karen Khachanov

Carlos Alcaraz vs. Stefanos Tsitsipas

There have been many big-time “draw projections” in the men’s field the last few years at Roland Garros, usually when Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal were in the same half of the draw, or in the same quarter one year. This year’s projection was when Djokovic and Alcaraz were drawn in the same half and this match-up with be realized after Alcaraz beats Stefanos Tsitsipas and Djokovic beats Karen Khachanov.

Karolina Muchova vs. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova

Karolina Muchova, as we wrote earlier, will be in the semifinals and Pavlyuchenkova will be up some resistance but will not be able to push through. Muchova has the 12.80 vs. 12.26 UTR advantage and we will go with that. She’s on a roll.

Elina Svitolina vs. Aryna Sabalenka

A fascinating Ukraine vs. Belarus match-up and this we can guarantee…there will be no handshake as Ukrainian players do not shake hands in matches against Russians and Belarussians. Svitolina has been flying the Ukrainian flag high and proud in her run to the quarterfinals and Sabalenka has been avoiding press conferences as she has been asked direct and sensitive questions about the war against Ukraine waged by Russia and Belarus and is hiding from having to answer (or not answer) sensitive questions. However, Sabalenka is too match tough and too sharp and we think Svitolina may be close to “empty” on emotional energy after an amazing run to the quarterfinals. Our hearts say Svitolina but our heads say Sabalenka.

Novak Djokovic 2023 Aussie Win “A Victory For Dignity, Individuality, Freedom, Non-Conformity”

January 29, 2023 by tennisbloggers Leave a Comment

Novak Djokovic’s win at the 2023 Australian Open was not only seen as significant in the context of the history of tennis, but also symbolic for bigger global reasons.

Djokovic’s 6-3, 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-5) final-round win over Stefanos Tsitsipas earned him a record-extending 10^th men’s singles title at the Australian Open and men’s record-tying 22^nd major singles title, equaling him with Rafael Nadal. The title also came one year after being deported from Australia, and not being able to play at Melbourne Park, due to his stance against taking a COVID-19 vaccine. This also prevented him from playing at the 2022 U.S. Open. His 2023 Australian Open victory, to some, symbolizes a victory over freedom, non-conformity and individuality. On the No. 1 rated morning cable television show “Fox and Friends” in the United States, hosts Will Cain, Pete Hegseth and Rachel Campos-Duffy discussed why they think the Djokovic victory has deeper meaning.

“I think this is more than just a victory for Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open,” said Cain, a former sports personality on ESPN. “We know what we now missed one year ago. We missed watching one of the greatest tennis players of all time win yet another major. I can’t guarantee that the winner of the 2022 Australian Open would’ve been Novak Djokovic, but you got a pretty good indication here when you see him win in 2023. But it’s more than that….We have missed not just great tennis, we’ve missed a year of education for our children. We’ve lost jobs, we’ve lost our economy, all under the dictatorial tyranny of an absolutely arbitrary mandate. But this is not just a victory for him. It’s a victory for dignity, individuality, freedom, non-compliance, non-conformity, not giving into public pressure. Yeah, it’s a victory for Novak Djokovic, but it’s a victory for individuality.”

Added Campos-Duffy, a former MTV personality, of Djokovic, “This guy has principle. He stood by his ground. He came back, he won. He was willing to risk that in order to do what’s right. There are millions of people in our military, teachers, nurses, doctors, everyday Americans, including myself, who just said, “I’m going to do what’s right for me. I believe in health liberty. I believe in autonomy over my own body.”

Hegseth pointed out many members of the American military, teachers, doctors, police officers, nurses and many others who were forced out of their jobs and livelihood and dreams for their refusal to adhere to the vaccine mandate. Said Hegseth, “Anyone who faced a mandate, when he’s fist pumping and overcoming it that way, he represents what maybe they didn’t get a chance to.”

After this commentary, Fox News then cued to an exchange between Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy and President Joe Biden’s press secretary Karine Jean Pierre from last August leading into the U.S. Open, when Djokovic was prevented from entering the country based on his vaccine status, while hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants are freely crossing the U.S. border from Mexico without having their vaccine status checked. As excerpted below.

Peter Doocy:

How come migrants are allowed to come into this country unvaccinated, but world class tennis players are not?

Karine Jean Pierre:

You’re talking about which world class tennis player?

Peter Doocy:

Novak Djokovic. How are they two different things? Somebody unvaccinated comes over on a plane, you say that’s not okay. Somebody walks into Texas or Arizona unvaccinated, they’re allowed to stay? Why?

Karine Jean Pierre:

But that’s not how it works. We actually … No.

Peter Doocy:

We know that that’s not what you guys want to happen, but that is what is happening.

Karine Jean Pierre:

It’s not like somebody walks over and … That’s not how-

Peter Doocy:

That’s exactly what’s happening.

Nitto ATP Finals Caps Record ATP Attendance For 2019

November 21, 2019 by tennisbloggers

LONDON — The 2019 Nitto ATP Finals, held for an 11th consecutive year at The O2 in London, provided a thrilling finale to the 2019 ATP Tour season, bringing attendance across the 63 ATP events throughout the year to a record 4.82 million fans, while online consumption of the season finale hit unprecedented heights. Stefanos Tsitsipas

21-year-old Greek star Stefanos Tsitsipas defeated Austria’s Dominic Thiem in a memorable singles final, 6-7(6), 6-2, 7-6(4), to complete a remarkable week of matches at The O2. It was only the third time in the history of the tournament (since 1970) that the singles championship match came down to a final set tie-break (1988, Becker d. Lendl; 2005, Nalbandian d. Federer).

Tsitsipas, who had won the Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan just one year earlier, captured the biggest title of his career, as well 1,300 ATP Rankings points and US$2,656,000 in prize money. At just 21 years, 3 months, the Greek became the youngest champion since 20-year-old Hewitt in 2001, and 6th-youngest champion in tournament history.

In doubles, the French pairing of Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut captured the season-ending title for the first time in their careers, defeating Raven Klaasen and Michael Venus, 6-3, 6-4.

The season finale attracted 242,883 fans to The O2 across the eight days of competition, bringing the tournament’s cumulative attendance since 2009 to 2,803,967. This year’s attendance at The O2 elevated the attendance across the ATP Tour’s 63 events in 2019 to more than 4.82 million fans, an all-time record. The previous highest attendance had been set in 2017 (4.57 million).

The 2019 Nitto ATP Finals also attracted record audiences online, as the tournament generated unprecedented levels of fan engagement across social and digital media platforms. The event received almost 400m impressions on tournament related content – a 97% increase on 2018. And with 12.4m interactions generated across ATP and Tennis TV social media platforms, the 2019 event became the best performing ATP Tour tournament on social, a 145% increase on the previous year. Tennis TV received 41.24 million video views on social media throughout the tournament, taking the platform’s total views on social media in 2019 to more than 1 billion.

Away from the match action, the ATP’s new ATP Tour app was successfully launched, while a five-year renewal of the Tour’s premier partnership with Emirates was also announced.

The ATP’s crown jewel event is to be held at The O2 in London for a 12th consecutive and final time in 2020, before moving to Turin, Italy, in 2021. Fans are able to purchase pre-sale tickets for the 2020 Nitto ATP Finals from today, by visiting: https://www.axs.com/NittoATPFinals_presale

BY THE NUMBERS:

• 399,112,369 – number of impressions across all ATP digital platforms (ATPTour.com, NittoATPFinals.com, live scoring apps, and social media platforms, and Tennis TV) throughout the event, a YOY increase of 97%.
• 69,110,871 – number of video plays on ATP digital media platforms, including ATPTour.com, NittoATPFinals.com, ATP & Tennis TV social media platforms, a year-on-year increase of 88%.
• 41,240,000 – number of Tennis TV social media video views, taking the platform’s total views on social media in 2019 to more than 1 billion.
• 12,397,163 – number or interactions (likes, comments, retweets, replies etc.) on ATP and Tennis TV social media platforms throughout the event, a year-on-year increase of 145%.
• 9,000,000 – amount of prize money (US$) on offer at the 2019 season finale.
• 6,200,000 – viewership in the UK of the BBC Breakfast programme that featured an exclusive sit-down interview with all eight singles players ahead of the season finale. The clip was also viewed on social media more than a quarter of a million times.
• 4,823,370 – number of fans that attended the 63 tournaments ATP tournaments in 2019, an all-time record.
• 2,803,964– cumulative attendance at the season-ending tournament since it moved to London in 2009.
• 2,656,000 – amount of prize money (US$) that Stefanos Tsitsipas won by capturing the title.
• 1,570,000 – number of streams on Tennis TV, the ATP’s official live streaming service, with each viewer watching an average of 475 minutes each.
• 242,880 – attendance inside The O2 arena across the eight days.
• 60,000 – number of single use plastic cups removed from the waste stream through elimination of single use cups and use of tournament take-home cups.
• 3,410 – metres of string used by Tecnifibre, Official Stringers of the Nitto ATP Finals, during the tournament.
• 1,300 – ATP Rankings points won by Stefanos Tsitsipas.
• 310 – number of racquets strung by Tecnifibre during the tournament. No plastic bags were used in the delivery of newly strung racquets to players by the official tournament stringers.
• 11 – number of years the event has been held at The O2 in London. The only city to host the season finale longer is New York, which held the season finale for 13 years from 1977-1989.
• 8 – number of different nations represented in the singles field, for the fourth consecutive year.
• 5 – number of times Nadal, Djokovic and Federer have finished the season as year-end No.1.
• 4 – number of singles players 23-and-under in the field (Tsitsipas, Zverev, Berrettini, Medvedev), the most since 2009.
• 1 – number of continents (Europe) represented in the singles field, a first in the 50-year history of the event.

Australian Open Proves There Is Still A Ways To Go For The “Changing Of The Guard”

January 27, 2019 by tennisbloggers

by Rajagopalan Rohinee

As the 2019 Australian Open concludes, one of the biggest upsets of the tournament was that of Roger Federer. The two-time defending champion’s fourth-round defeat to Stefanos Tsitsipas set the ball rolling anew about changing of the guard and how Federer’s – and his other peers’ – time had come to an end.

Yet, as it turned out in the days after Federer’s upset, the old guard remained as they were – with Novak Djokovic defeating Rafael Nadal for the men’s title – even as the youngsters kept dropping off, one-by-one as the draw narrowed further. Until eventually, the two others who reached the penultimate stage of the tournament – Stefanos Tsitsipas and Lucas Pouille – got quite a lesson as to how they were expected to play at that point.

The concept of changing of the guard, too, has taken a lunging step backwards at this point. To that end, it is following the usual chain of events that usually transpire in an event. Each time that one among Federer, Nadal and Djokovic loses – and a Next Gen player wins – in a tournament, or a tournament; the narrative repeats itself. But, the moment any of them wins an event, the younger players get relegated to the backburner even as the legendary status of these players is cemented further. As such, suffice to say, the idea that there is a change of guard happening in the upper echelons of the game will soon reappear as the season progresses from beyond the Australian swing. And, at this point, it has honestly begun to get slightly tiresome.

All this, however, is not to say that the youngsters are not making their way through. But that there is an attempt to conflate expectations and reality, without considering the time factor needed to merge the two into a single entity. For example: in the last few years, Alexander Zverev has been a steady presence in the top ATP rankings with a slew of titles backing his credentials. Yet, his results in the majors have been disappointing – although not for want of trying.

Much as Zverev himself ponders about the dichotomy of his results otherwise in the ATP events and at the majors, for the numerous others who have directed their scrutiny at him, the takeaway ought to be that not keep harping on it and rather, let him figure it out for himself with his team. The same case can be made for Hyeon Chung – who after a surprisingly great run at the 2018 Australian Open has been laid low with injuries and inconsistent performances – and more recently, for Stefanos Tsitsipas.

In case of the Greek, the highs after his win over Federer – and Roberto Bautista Agut in the quarter-final – came cascading down in his lopsided 6-2, 6-4, 6-0 semi-final loss to Nadal. In a curious admission about the result, Tsitsipas observed in the post-match press conference, “I don’t know, I feel very strange. I feel happy with my performance in this tournament, but at the same time I feel disappointed. I feel like I could do a bit better today. I don’t know. That’s how I felt. But it’s a very, very weird feeling. Almost felt like just couldn’t play better. I don’t know.”

The rest of his press conference followed along the same lines with Tsitsipas outlining Nadal’s game-plan during the match and his inability to deal with the tactics employed. As far as analysis went, it was needed. But considering that Tsitsipas had faced Nadal twice before – as recently as in 2018 – and had lost both matches to him, he needed to have a strategy worked out to cover all his problematic areas against the Spaniard. Most importantly, as befitting the ranks of a player ushering in a new era, he needed to adjust his strategy right there, on the court, when the ones he had been employing were not working effectively against Nadal.

At the moment, this is the biggest differentiator between these multiple-time champions and the new players. The older players’ acumen in manipulating their tactics to put their opponents on the back-foot, then, is not something that can be gained in a match or two. It takes years to put together and even then, it is not perfect at all times.
But, in case of losses, it is the experience-wrought capability to reset their games that has made them so dominant, year-on-year and season-after-season. Even for Federer, despite his loss which has not been his first, and which will not be his last either.