Tsitsipas’ Rise to the Top

Just before the US Open, AGONAsport takes a look back at Stefanos Tsitsipas’ ascent to the top of men’s tennis.

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In October of 2013, then just 15 years of age, Tsitsipas recorded his first professional win at a $10,000 futures tournament on the island of Crete. With this win, he was able to enter the ATP rankings at 2030 in the world. One year later, he would make back-to-back quarterfinals in Crete to get up to 1271 in the rankings. In December of 2014, Stefanos made headlines by reaching the final of the prestigious Orange Bowl, arguably the biggest junior tournament outside the four Grand Slams.

In 2015, Stefanos would establish himself as a top junior player, reaching the quarterfinals in singles at the Australian Open and semifinals in doubles at the US Open. In October, he made his first professional final, and in November, he won his first professional title at a futures tournament in Cyprus. As a result, his ranking jumped up to 572 in the world. He finished the season by being runner-up of the Orange Bowl for the second consecutive year.

2016 was Tsitsipas’ last year of junior eligibility, and he made the most of it by becoming the number one junior player in the world. He reached the singles quarterfinals at the Australian Open and French Open, and the semifinals at Wimbledon and the US Open, in addition to being crowned European junior champion. The highlight however, was winning the boys’ doubles title at Wimbledon with Estonia’s Kenneth Raisma. 

On the professional level, Tsitsipas won a total of four futures titles in 2016. In October of that year, he took his game to the next level by being a finalist twice at the challenger level, in back-to-back weeks. He would begin 2017 ranked 210 in the world, a remarkable feat for someone beginning their first full season on the pro tour.

After a disappointing start to the 2017 season, with injuries and early round exits, Tsitsipas began to turn his season around in May. He qualified for an ATP tournament for the first time in his career, and then a few weeks later qualified for the French Open. One month later, he would also qualify for Wimbledon. Tsitsipas would then win his first challenger title in September in Italy, doing so without dropping a set. With this title, he shot up to 120 in the rankings and was getting closer to achieving his goal of ending the season in the top 100.

The following month, Tsitsipas would record his first ATP main draw victory in Shanghai. The very next week, Tsitsipas would make his first ATP semifinal and score his first top 10 win (over David Goffin) in Antwerp, Belgium. Tsitsipas would end 2017 ranked 91 in the world.

Things would only get better for Tsitsipas in 2018, reaching two ATP tour quarterfinals in the first two months of the year (Doha and Dubai) to improve his ranking to 71. In April, Tsitsipas would make the final of Barcelona without dropping a set, followed by another semifinal appearance the next week, in Portugal. The Greek went into the French Open ranked 39 in the world, at just 19 years of age. There, he would win his first main draw match at a major, before losing to the eventual runner-up (Dominic Thiem) in the second round. At Wimbledon, Tsitsipas would make it all the way to the round of 16, which further improved his ranking to 32.

Tsitsipas’ 2018 summer hard court season began with a run to the semifinals of the event in Washington D.C., which moved him up to 27 in the world. The following week, he would defeat four top 10 players in a row to make the final of the Rogers Cup in Toronto. Despite falling to world number one Rafael Nadal in the final on his 20th birthday, the Greek would jump up to number 15 in the rankings as a result of his runner-up showing in Canada.

The young Greek sensation will make his US Open main draw debut on Monday against former world number five Tommy Robredo of Spain. Should he win, he would face the winner of the all-Russian match between Daniil Medvedev and Evgeny Donskoy. On the women’s side, Maria Sakkari is seeded 32 and will face American wildcard Asia Muhammad in the first round, also to be played on Monday.
 

By Andrew Stamas

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