STEFANOS TSITSIPAS' EX-COACH TEARS INTO HIM DAYS AFTER QUITTING GREEK STAR'S TEAM
The former coach of Stefanos Tsitsipas has slammed the star's apparent lack of desire after confirming he is no longer working with the world No.11. Despite winning the Monte-Carlo Masters in 2024, the Greek player has struggled this season and after his French Open quarter-final defeat to Carlos Alcaraz, the wait for a maiden Grand Slam title goes on.
But with Wimbledon just a fortnight away, the 25-year-old now faces the prospect of heading to SW19 without a coach after Christos Fiotakis announced he had quit his role.
The 2024 Paris Olympics takes place at Roland Garros in July and Tsitsipas is among the favourites to win gold.
"I was really looking forward to the Olympics in Paris because I thought that would be the moment when we could bring the gold, which we didn't do in Tokyo, due to bad luck and some strange circumstances," Fiotakis told SDNA. "As I said, however, we have other priorities and I am not satisfied with Stefanos' work ethics."
Fiotakis also questioned the motivation of his former player, implying the gruelling schedule was not worth it if Tsitsipas wasn't going to apply himself properly. "Right now I don't think his ultimate focus is on playing tennis and getting to the top of the rankings or winning Grand Slams," he added.
"So that's why I too can't travel for seven months straight, with only 25 days at home, when the goals are not high and I'm traveling just to travel. I have enough work at home and I prefer to distribute my energy to different people in my daily life, make them fitter and achieve what they want, without stress."
Tsitsipas, a two-time Grand Slam finalist, returned to the action at the start of this year after a back injury kept him out of the tail-end of the 2023 season. And Fiotakis hailed the work the pair did in getting him back on court and also wished the player well in the future.
"The results and goals I had set as a coach did not come," he admitted. "However, we got Stefanos back on his feet, back to being a healthy athlete and competing at a high level after his injury.
"Beyond that there are some things that are out of my control. The team atmosphere doesn't match my energy and, unfortunately, we have other priorities. I wish him, however, the best, that he may always be healthy.
"Thank you for this experience I had with the team, I think I gave them a lot. But I also learned a lot through the seven intense months on tour with such a high level athlete."
Tsitsipas is currently outside the world's top-10 for the first time since reaching a career high ranking of No.3 in August 2021. Despite being a regular user of social media, he's yet to respond to the comments of his now ex-coach.
2024-06-15T09:27:42Z dg43tfdfdgfd