After his defeat in the 1st round, Stefanos Tsitsipas: “However, I have the impression of being a better player than in 2018”

Revealed in Melbourne in 2018, finalist in 2023, semi-finalist three times, Tsitsipas undoubtedly hoped that this tournament that he loves so much would allow him to start a new cycle to put his year 2024, only saved by his title in Monte- Carlo, behind him. It's a failure. As during the last US Open, the Greek took the front door.

His long decline goes on and on and, visibly, he is starting to get tired. Asked to compare himself with his 2018 version, the man with the most crumbly back of the Top 20 admitted to a form of heavy routine: “I was fresher then, I was hungrier beforehe explains. I had this desire to succeed in tennis, to have a good start to my career. It's different today. I have been well established for several years, I have seen the circuit, again and again, the same tournaments year after year. I know what it is. There was a different energy and dynamic before.”

He had already mentioned this “hunger” after Roland-Garros in 2022 where he left the table after a defeat against Holger Rune. Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, Holger Rune and now Alex Michelsen: the new wave of the circuit has clearly swept Tsitsipas away. In this perspective, the Greek is at the same time a symbol, a witness and a victim of the era and of the passing of time.

Symbolic because his game, so exciting and so romantic, now seems almost has-been for the circuit. Beyond its flaws in the reverse, its striking force is less compared to current bombers. “When I arrived in 2018 the game was really different from today, it wasn't as physicalhe said in complete frankness when discussing the adjustments he is missing. I have already won matches against Novak (Djokovic) where I had the feeling of playing well but not necessarily of seeking the most extreme version of myself in terms of intensity. Today the game really shifted towards that.”

In this new tennis situation, other members of the “Next Gen” have been able to take this turn, like Alexander Zverev who has been frankly formidable in recent months. Tsitsipas seems to have remained at the dock. Witness to a changing world but above all victim of it. “The margins are smaller, there are no longer as many free pointshe observes again. Innovations allow players to serve even stronger than before. Really, I insist on that. A few years ago, the game was definitely less powerful, it was physical, of course, but not as much as now.”

So, what to do? Succeeding, without doubt, in redefining its tennis DNA. Finding relevant keys in the face of this world of brutes where the poet Tsitsipas appears obsolete and above all no longer really worthy of interest when discussing potential winners or simply serious outsiders. In all of this, Tsitsipas has one quality: he is lucid about his situation.

“I think, compared to 2018, I'm definitely a better player than then. Even though I lost today, even though it's not the best period of my career, I definitely feel like I'm a more accomplished player. For example, my shots were frankly less heavy than they are now, especially in terms of spin. I was hitting a lot flatter and watering a little more everywhere. I still have the impression that this type of game would be even less effective today than at the time..”

From this sincere press conference there seems to be an unstoppable fall. And a form of fatality. Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal may have left, but the next generation seems even more complicated for him to tame. At 26, Tsitsipas almost already talks about himself in the past tense. In these conditions, it is difficult to imagine a future.