Taylor Fritz recently overcame the likes of Rinky Hijikata and Marcos Giron to reach the championship match of the Delray Beach Open. In doing so, the American tennis star was able to hold on to his place in the top 10 rankings on the men’s tour. However, Fritz has now pushed his Greek colleague Stefanos Tsitsipas out of the top spots, as he is currently ranked number 11.
While amassing ten ATP singles titles, including two Masters 1000 championships, the Greek tennis player has also reached the world No. 3 ranking. But for the first time in 5 seasons, Tsitsipas will be out of the top-10 singles rankings as he has been far away from his optimum levels on the court. So now the major question arises: Can the highest-ranked Greek player in history make a comeback this season?
There is no one-handed backhander in the top 10 as Stefanos Tsitsipas drops out from the rankings
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The former world No. 3 player has failed to start the season on a high note as he was defeated in the initial round of the Australian Open. In the fourth round of the Grand Slam in Melbourne, the 7th-seeded Greek was knocked out by his 12th-seeded American opponent, Taylor Fritz, after a four-set game, 6-7, 7-5, 6-3, 6-3. Now that he has yet to mark his participation in the Los Cabos Open, Stefanos Tsitsipas has dropped out of the top 10 rankings.
He might be back in the Top 10 in a week or two, as he has only 90 points to defend until clay court season. Since he was 20 years old, Tsitsipas has been the only one-handed backhanded player for 5 seasons on the ATP Tour. With the Greek player’s new number 11 ranking, there is currently no one-handed backhander on the men’s circuit.
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When Tsitsipas was on the verge of moving out of the top spots, Roger Federer also came forward to vent his concern in a video call interview. The Swiss maestro said, “If Alex de Minaur had defeated Andrey Rublev, Stefanos Tsitsipas would have moved out of the top ten.” It also prompted Federer to ask trivia questions as he opened up about how there would be no one-handed backhanded player on the tour after Tsitsipas.
The former tennis ace said, ‘If this guy loses, do you know what that means ?’ before he added, “If he loses here, for the first time there will be no player with a one-handed backhand in the top ten.”
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Do you think that the Greek tennis star will return to the top 10 spot in the men’s rankings? Let us know in the comments section.
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