ATP Monte-Carlo: Defending champion, where is Stefanos Tsitsipas really?

“I feel like home hereOn Friday, during the draw ceremony for the Masters 1000 in Monte-Carlo, where he officiated as defending champion, Stefanos Tsitsipas sought to reassure. Or to reassure himself. He went looking for the air of the Côte-d’Azur to believe in better days.

A year ago, behind closed doors in Monte-Carlo, the Greek won the first Masters 1000 of his career, a prelude to a busy spring, with another title in Lyon, even if he was not without some frustration. A defeat in the final in Barcelona against Nadal having had a match point, another in Rome against Djokovic having served for the match and finally, of course, this final of Roland-Garros lost against the Serb after having counted two sets of ‘advance. From prolific, his Earth campaign could have become exceptional.

If he had left the Porte d’Auteuil with misty eyes and a tray in his hands rather than with the Coupe des Mousquetaires, Tsitsipas nevertheless seemed launched on a trajectory likely to bring him very quickly to the heights. But for ten months, the beautiful mechanics has been jammed. Not a single title. Only one final. A small victory against a Top 10 After a brisk first half of 2021 (80% wins), its success rate has dropped significantly since Roland-Garros: 65% success. An unmistakable sign, he has also won more matches in six months in the first half of the 2021 season (36) than in the last ten months (32).

Murderous summer, ghostly autumn

While he seemed set to become the first NextGen player to hit the bullseye in a Grand Slam, and Roland-Garros had only confirmed this feeling, Stefanos Tsitsipas fell into line, even in a relative way. Now he watches the trains go by. While he was leveling off, Daniil Medvedev picked up his first Major. Alexander Zverev, even though the German is at the end of 2022, has picked up the Olympic title and a second Masters. And now the very young Carlos Alcaraz, who dominated him unceremoniously on the road to his Floridian triumph in Miami, begins to overshadow him.

His physical problems of course partly explain this sudden stop. He had surgery on his right elbow at the end of last season, the pain having become unbearable. But before that, he had chained disappointments, as if the missed opportunity of Roland-Garros still weighed on him. Entrance exit at Wimbledon, elimination in the round of 16 of the Tokyo Olympics against Ugo Humbert, before a defeat against Alcaraz at the US Open. A kind of murderous summer that will precede a ghostly autumn.

By his own admission, the Athenian is now rid of all pain. But after an encouraging start to the season (semi-final at the Australian Open, final in Rotterdam) which we thought had revived him, he stalled again. Is the clay court falling right? Perhaps. “It’s my favorite surface, and I love the transition from hard to clay.“, he recalled arriving in Monte-Carlo.

An important crossroads

In any case, he will play big, very big. As mentioned last week, Tsitsipas will, by the end of Roland-Garros, put into play 3355 points, more than half of his current capital in the ATP ranking. If he does not perform well, by the start of the summer, his place in the Top 10 could even be weakened, when he has been there for more than three years now without stopping. .

Beyond these accounting considerations, the real question is whether Stefanos Tsitsipas can recover to become the major player, almost unavoidable, that he was a year ago. While his upward trajectory has brought him almost steadily closer to the heights since his emergence in 2018-2019, he is experiencing his first truly lasting downturn. He is looking for a rekindling of a flame which, without completely extinguishing, has weakened.

This great leveling off has nothing dramatic yet in a more distant perspective. After all, he is not yet 24 years old. But between Djokovic and Nadal still not ready to hand over, Medvedev and Zverev who, in terms of prize list, are clearly ahead of him, and the “Next-NextGen” embodied by Alcaraz who does not necessarily want to wait, the Greek already finds himself at an important crossroads in his career. The return to clay must coincide with a new step forward, especially here, in Monte-Carlo, a tournament so special in his eyes. It’s time to show that he’s still there.