Who will be Stefanos Tsitsipas’ new coach? Since his split with his father and coach, Apostolos Tsitsipas, the Greek star has been on a relatively solo outing. He has the support of the Greek Davis Cup captain, Dimitris Hatzinikolaou. However, no long-term commitment has been made by either of the two parties! The duo is taking this new collaboration on a step-by-step basis. While “it’s all up in the air,” with Tsitsipas taking his time, his mother, Julia Apostoli, opened up about Tsitsipas’ relationship with his father.

It’s not easy to play the dual role of being a father and a coach, though there are great examples like Serena Williams who had a successful working partnership with her father. For Tsitsipas, it was somewhere a struggle, as he pondered over changing his coach for a long time, from back in 2020 itself, when he lost the US Open.

During her interview with the ANT1 show ‘To Proino,’ Tsitsipas’ mother gave a glimpse into the Greek’s difficult childhood and the changing dynamics of father-son relations. She said, “He is a professional and even though he loves his father very much, he understands that he needs to find another coach. Since 2020, when he lost in the US Open, we said with Apostolos that Stefanos needs to change his coach.”

Despite the idea of a change, the Greek star continued to perform under his father’s guidance. This season, he claimed the Monte Carlo Masters and finished as the runner-up at the Barcelona Open, among other satisfactory results. But after the hard-court swing, Tsitsipas made the move to step away from the years-old collaboration with his father.

However, his mother highlighted the 2020 defeat as the turning point in the father-son relationship. “Of course, I think that Apostolos and Stefanos did not have such a good relationship since then. They had conflicts. And that’s why Stefanos made the decision to change coaches. We don’t see it as a tragedy,” Julia said.

The professional collaboration might have broken down, but not the family. Julia made sure that the world knows, “We are all together and we are a close family.” She also admitted that in his attempt to make Tsitsipas the best player in the world, Apostolos was unable to understand the pressure that the player was going through. “At some point, Apostolos had gotten too deep into his work and didn’t understand that there was pressure. He only had tennis on his mind,” Julia further remarked.

Tsitsipas has now moved on from the poor US Open stint to the upcoming Laver Cup, in hopes of winning the title back for Europe. His back injury had earlier put his participation in doubt, as he withdrew from Davis Cup! However, he is back now and has found support in the reigning Olympic champion, Novak Djokovic.

“Mentally foremost” Novak Djokovic’s positive words for Stefanos Tsitsipas after a whirlwind season

After facing massive ups and downs throughout the season, Tsitsipas was hoping to end the year on a high. However, the Greek star encountered a back injury, just ahead of the Davis Cup, when Greece was set to face Serbia.

And, it seems that the whole circuit is aware of Stefanos Tsitsipas’ struggles. When Novak Djokovic was recently asked about his struggles, he praised the Greek star, saying “I don’t think that the game-wise he’s far behind the top players, I think he possesses a game to really be an established, you know, top five player. And he has proven that in many occasions in the previous years he is one… Again Monte-Carlo this year, which is a 1000 events. It’s just a matter of him figuring out how to find a balance, mentally foremost,” the Serb said.

Well, Djoker is right. Tsitsipas will have to find the right balance and will also have to figure out who will be his next coach. Until then it is just a wait-and-watch situation for the fans, as they wait for the Greek to regain his top form.