Stefanos Tsitsipas splits with coach and father Apostolos (2024)

Stefanos Tsitsipas has announced his father Apostolos will no longer coach him after his public criticism following his exit from the Canadian Open.

The Greek suffered a surprise defeat to Kei Nishikori, the world No 576, to go out of the tournament in Montreal on Thursday.

After the match Tsitsipas openly criticised his father — who has coached him since childhood — saying he was “really disappointed in him”.

“I need and I deserve a coach that listens to me and hears my feedback as a player,” he added. “My father hasn’t been very smart or very good at handling those situations.”

A day after the defeat Tsitsipas announced the split officially although confirmed that his father will continue to travel with him on tour.

A decision as to who will take over has not yet been made, Tsitsipas, the world No 11, said.

“It is with a heavy heart that I inform you that my collaboration with my father as a coach has come to an end,” he wrote on social media . “I prefer to keep my father in his role as a father, and only as a father.

“Philosophy teaches us that wisdom comes through understanding our limits and acknowledging our mistakes. In my case, I realized that I was wrong to talk to my father the way I did. Tennis is not just a match, a hit or a performance of a few seconds.

“It is a long journey full of emotions, pressure and expectations. In that moment of frustration, there were many mistakes and errors on the part of my coach and father. As an introvert, I tend to hold in my emotions and build them up until I reach a bursting point. I consider myself patient, so the fact that I reacted this way left me shocked.

“My behavior on the court was unacceptable, and I feel disappointed that I got to a point where I showed a dark side of myself. When I feel disrespected, judged, or emotionally attacked, I tend to lose control of what comes out of my mouth, which goes against my values as a human being. I lost control and could not see clearly in front of me.”

It is not the first off-court change of the summer for Tsitsipas. In June, fitness coach Christos Fiotakis stepped away from his role because he was “not satisfied” with his work ethic. His father has previously been criticised for his on-court coaching, receiving multiple code violations before the tennis tours made the widespread but then illegal practice part of their rules at the 2022 US Open. Before last year’s Canadian hard-court tournaments, Tsitsipas introduced Australian Mark Philippoussis to his coaching team for a second time (having previously done so in late 2022) but that partnership, in conjunction with Apostolos, lasted only until the 2023 US Open.

Tsitsipas added: “My father has been trying for the last few years to train me, raise me the right way and provide me with knowledge and wisdom, both on and off the field. I thank him for that. I thank him for the sacrifices, pain and suffering he has endured to make this endeavor a success. From now on, his role will remain within the confines of the father role, and that alone.

“My father will continue to travel with me and be there to support me and provide assistance off the court, as I have always wanted. I have trusted my father with the coaching role for so many years, and I consider our partnership to be successful.

“I’m not sure who will take his place, and I’m not in a position to decide yet. What I do know is that it is time to let this chapter and this phase close, and try to write a new one. We’ve both agreed to that and hope to focus on our human side first, then the rest.

“Accepting my mistakes and trying to mend my ways is part of my path as an athlete, and I assure you that I will continue to work hard to improve myself, both on and off the field. I hope this experience is a lesson for me, and for everyone who struggles to find the right balance in their lives.”

‘Not a clean break for the Tsitsipas family’

Analysis from James Hansen

One of the enduring and shocking on-court images of 2020 was Apostolos Tsitsipas flinching in pain after his son, Stefanos, accidentally hit him with his tennis racket after striking out in frustration at losing a set to Nick Kyrgios at the ATP Cup in Australia. “It was fine,” Stefanos said afterwards. That’s a healthy clue to the coaching relationship between the duo.

Stefanos’s loss to Kei Nishikori in Montreal likely occasioned both this decision, and the heavy criticism that Stefanos directed at his father, not because it was a shock result, but because the manner of the defeat was so predictable.

Take time away from Tsitsipas on either wing, and he will struggle. Do it to his backhand, which lacks the necessary slice and chip defence to prevent him from having to hit uncomfortable balls (a skill cultivated by Lorenzo Musetti, Dominic Thiem, Stan Wawrinka, and just about any other successful single-hander) and things can get ugly.

Tsitsipas was most disappointed with the lack of penetration on his forehand against Nishikori — the weapon that is most important to his game, alongside his serve.

Since winning the Monte Carlo title earlier this year, on the clay which is his best surface, Tsitsipas has suffered two immensely chastening defeats of completely different kinds: a rote thrashing by Carlos Alcaraz at the French Open, and a humiliatingly scarring loss to a temporarily hobbled Novak Djokovic at the Olympics, in which Tsitsipas was 4-0 and *5-3, 40-0 up in the second set before losing it, and the match, 6-7. All of the baggage of a 13-2 head-to-head record was on display in the latter, including the Greek’s two Grand Slam final defeats to Djokovic, at the 2021 and 2023 French and Australian Opens. Tsitsipas had a two-set lead in the former, before succumbing to the Serbian.

This is not a clean break for the Tsitsipas family. Stefanos says Apostolos will continue to travel with him on tour, in a support capacity, if not as an official coach. Nor is it the first time that Tsitsipas has shuffled his coaching pack, hiring, then splitting with, then rehiring, then splitting again with Australian Mark Philippoussis over the last 18 months. Given their previous outbursts, and especially given Apostolos’s repeated sanctions for on-court coaching before the practice became accepted, it remains to be seen how much the emotion of their father-son relationship will be affected by this removal of formal coaching duty.

Though only 25, Tsitsipas’s position between the era of Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, and Roger Federer, and the recent emergence of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner makes the window for him to win the biggest prize in tennis feel smaller. He first entered the top 10 of the ATP rankings in March 2019, staying there until January this year and reaching as high as world No 3 on three separate occasions. Currently world No 11, his next coaching decision will be critical to making the most of his next years on the tour.

(Top photo: Matt King/Getty Images)