Player Features
Stefanos Tsitsipas on reuniting with his father as coach: The whole point is…
Greek seeking bounceback in Cincinnati
August 11, 2025
Andrew Eichenholz/ATP Tour
Apostolos Tsitsipas watches his son, Stefanos Tsitsipas, during a practice session in Toronto, their first tournament back together.
By Andrew Eichenholz
A storyline that came out of Wimbledon was Stefanos Tsitsipas’ split with Goran Ivanisevic, the former No. 2 player in the PIF ATP Rankings who coached Novak Djokovic. Tsitsipas, once World No. 3, had fallen to his lowest ranking since 2018, when he was first making his rise.
But after defeating Fabian Marozsan 7-6(3), 6-2 on Saturday in the second round of the Cincinnati Open, the 26-year-old was upbeat and very open in discussing his reunion with his father, Apostolos Tsitsipas, as his coach.
“It might not be something smooth that suddenly you see the right outcome out of it, of being back again with my father. That’s not really what the whole point is,” Tsitsipas said. “It is trying to figure out the person who cares the most about me and really is going to spend extra hours on the court, perfecting me, trying to get me as good as possible.”
The 2019 Nitto ATP Finals champion explained that “there were a lot of things” that ended their original player-coach relationship. He revealed that there was miscommunication involved.
“I feel like I didn’t have enough patience anymore as well. I’ve grown since then. He’s grown since then,” Tsitsipas said. “I feel like his perception about certain things has changed towards the better. I’m hoping we can work towards that together, and I’m hoping we can [hear] each other out.”
Tsitsipas revealed that he has been focusing on the technical side of his game, in large part because his father has been “insisting” on it.
“There are plenty of things, meaning adjustments. I don’t feel like it’s as big as trying to change a forehand or backhand,” Tsitsipas said. “But there are certain ways, there are certain habits that you build up during [your career on the] Tour that you’re not aware of yourself because you’re just focussed on what’s going to happen on the other side of the court. So I feel like the importance of a coach is also trying to recalibrate certain misalignments, mistimings on your technique and the way you come behind the ball and certain things.”
The 12-time ATP Tour titlist said it is important to clean those up, especially for a player like himself because of the style of game he plays.
“I’m a technical player, I rely a lot on my technique. I need to have a good technique in order to hit the ball the way I like it,” Tsitsipas said. “In order to be able to do that, I also need someone who has a good eye for it and someone who’s going to spend hours on the court trying to clean those shots up and make them as smooth and as effective as possible without overcomplicating things.”
After an opening-round loss in Toronto to Christopher O’Connell, Tsitsipas bounced back with his victory in Cincinnati against Marozsan. He will try to build on that triumph Monday when he faces Benjamin Bonzi, who upset Lorenzo Musetti in the second round.