Tsitsipas Finds Renewed Inspiration on Clay Courts: A Comeback Story in the Making

The sun and the good weather are beginning to appear, that pleasant temperature, and in tennis, the beautiful views of the Mediterranean offered by the balcony of the Monte Carlo tournament are the foretaste that something good is to come. Clay court, another story; not another sport, but something very different. If not, ask Stefanos Tsitsipas, a tennis player who has not quite hit the mark in recent times and who is losing steam, but who, as the pleasure of the game becomes consolidated,…

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The sun and the good weather are beginning to appear, that pleasant temperature, and in tennis, the beautiful views of the Mediterranean offered by the balcony of the Monte Carlo tournament are the foretaste that something good is to come. Clay court, another story; not another sport, but something very different. If not, ask Stefanos Tsitsipas, a tennis player who has not quite hit the mark in recent times and who is losing steam, but as the pleasure of the new season becomes consolidated, his face changes. Spring and clay, the best of stimuli for him, the Greek who was going to take over the world but who today, on the decline lately, is very far from where it was predicted that he could reach, not without solid arguments.

“In this sport there are many more painful moments than happy ones. There are many more hard moments than those of glory, success and opening champagne,” he says with the reflective tone that always surrounds his speech, that of a spiritual man who also likes to try experiences. For example, that of writing. “I have a diary and write two or three times a week; not as much as I would like. I write about how I can be a better person in the future. I consider that spirituality is very important for my well-being,” adds the Athenian, happier today than yesterday because his victory against the Russian Karen Khachanov – 6-4 and 6-2, without cracks or gaps – places him one more year in the semi-finals of the Principality, a circumstance that has been repeated three times in the last four years. He twice raised the trophy, 2021 and 2022.

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“My goal is to win a Grand Slam and a medal at the Games,” he says, not without surprising optimism, taking into account that his trajectory has been downward since his time on the previous dirt tour; From there, many disappointments, a lot of discretion in the performance sheet and just one title, that of Los Cabos (ATP 250, the fourth category). Tsitsipas has not finished finding himself, excluded from the top-10 after magnificent consistency; He abandoned it in February, a situation that he had not experienced since March 2019. The Greek has not been able to come up with that version that invited us to think of one of the future dominators, later overtaken on the right by members of the penultimate batch such as Alcaraz, Sinner or Rune .

It is said, then, that in some way it is at a crossroads. At 25 years old and twelfth in the ranking, he is fighting to escape stagnation and to rebound his game, which these days is greening in a territory where, specialists on the sidelines, very few of them, the present offers an open door that did not exist before: Rafael Nadal is not on the mat, not yet, and the Spaniard’s precarious physique presents an opportunity for the rest to aspire to a cake that they previously devoured exclusively. And he, just in case, because perhaps real inspiration will return, begins to rear his head. There is no doubt: sand suits him well. Almost half of his laurels (four out of 10) correspond to this surface that demands pause and reflection, perhaps that spirituality, the way he likes it.

The wounds of Barcelona… and Paris

“The rallies are much more intense, so endurance is the key to clay court tennis. At the same time, it has many tactical elements. The fact that you can go slower and take a little more time, that you can choose when you attack and when you defend, adds a differentiating element. On hard court, I feel like I’m trying to repeat the same thing all the time,” he says, while warning: “I’ve been working a lot on my physical fitness in recent weeks and it’s something I’m already prepared for.” The warning should not fall on deaf ears, because after all, he triumphed twice in Monte Carlo and came within a hair’s breadth of achieving it another two times in Barcelona; Nadal (2021) and Alcaraz (2023) prevented him from doing so. To this we must add the very painful defeat in the Roland Garros final three years ago; You know, two sets ahead of Novak Djokovic and… wallow.

Without having given up any set, this Saturday he will meet (not before 1:30 p.m., Movistar+) with Sinner. The Italian does his thing. This time, he resolved an intense duel with the Danish Holger Rune (6-4, 6-7 (6) and 6-3, after 2h 40m) and equaled the level reached a year ago; In this way, he ensured that he would emerge on Monday as number two, a position that Alcaraz threatened. Nole didn’t fail either. It had been nine years since the Serbian had played in the semi-finals of the Monegasque tournament. He will do it (not before 3:30 p.m.), after having defeated Alex de Minaur (7-5 ​​and 6-4, in 2h 04m) and having caught the umpteenth record. With 77 appearances in the penultimate round, he is already the tennis player who has stepped on it the most times on the stage of thousands. With this he surpasses Rafael Nadal’s 76. Between the Serbian and access to the last episode of the tournament will be Casper Ruud, superior to Ugo Humbert (6-3, 4-6 and 6-1).

NADAL, INNOCENT HAND OF GODÓ

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This Saturday, at 1:00 p.m., the Godó organization will carry out the draw to define next week’s draw and the event, as specified by the tournament, will feature Nadal’s participation. The 22 major champion, who has been training at the RCTB facilities since Wednesday to decide whether he plays or not, will be the innocent hand along with actor Peter Vives. Everything indicates, therefore, that he will finally participate.

It was also known this Friday that veterans Roberto Bautista and Albert Ramos, and youngsters Daniel Rincón and Martín Landaluce, have received an invitation to compete.

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2024-04-12 19:52:00
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