Things have gone south for Stefanos Tsitsipas in the past few months. The Greek star failed to impress at the recently-concluded Paris Olympic Games, suffering disappointing defeats. Subsequently, he suffered a shocking loss yesterday at the hands of comeback man, Kei Nishikori. Tsitsipas, the eighth seed, was playing in the round of 32 clash of the National Bank Open, which he lost in straight sets against the Japanese star 6-4, 6-4. What made matters worse was the fact that he had an altercation with his father during the encounter.

Hours after that steamy encounter, Tsitsipas decided to fire his father, who has been his coach since childhood, ending their professional relationship. It sent shockwaves to the tennis community as the two have had a successful long-time partnership.

Things got heated up when Tsitsipas hit several unforced errors from his forehand. Apparently, he has been suffering from this issue for quite some time now and even gave this feedback to his father. However, the Greek star felt that his father ignored this issue due to which Tsitsipas got angry during the match and vented out his frustration. Subsequently, he even went on to receive a code violation for his steamy behavior during the match.

The 25-year-old took to his official Twitter handle to explain the decision behind firing his father as his coach. Despite their successes together, the two have often been under the lens for their behavior during the matches. As a result, Tsitsipas has also received several code violations after receiving coaching tips from his father during the matches. With things reaching the boiling point yesterday, Tsitsipas made an abrupt decision to change his coaching team.

He wrote a lengthy message on his official Twitter handle, which read, “It is with a heavy heart that I inform you that my collaboration with my father as a coach has come to an end. I prefer to keep my father in his role as a father, and only as a father… 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.”

While a decision as to who will take over has not yet been made, Tsitsipas, the world No 11, spill the qualities he would like in his coach, which his father apparently lacked.

Tsitsipas outlines the qualities of an ideal coach

Later, during the press conference, Tsitsipas elaborated on this issue and underlined the qualities he wants his next coach to have. “I need and I deserve a coach that listens to me and hears my feedback as a player,” Tsitsipas told reporters after detailing a disagreement he’d had with his father about changes in his racquet strings. “The most important thing for a player is to have direct and good feedback from a coach. It’s a collaborative work that you put in together.”

He further criticized his father for lacking these qualities, “My father hasn’t been very smart or very good at handling those situations, it’s not the first time he has done that.” Although the two have had successful results in the past, Tsitsipas has been having a barren run of form and felt that the time was right for a change to his coaching staff. Thus, he made a huge decision to part ways with his father on a professional front.

Nonetheless, Tsitsipas clarified that his father will continue to cheer for him from the stands and travel with him to the tournaments. It is not the ending that the two would have wanted but maybe the brisk decision might change Tsitsipas’ fortunes going into the US Open later this month.