The year 2025 has not been good for Stefanos Tsitsipas. The Greek tennis player has experienced a real ordeal due to injuries, a problem that has made him collect a long list of bad results and that has led him to drop to 34th place in the world ranking, very far from what is expected of a player of his level.
To all this we must add his breakup with Paula Badosawith whom he formed one of the most high-profile couples in the world of tennis.
His mother, Yulia Salnikova, spoke about this in the last few hours, highlighting the difficulty of the relationship. “I wouldn’t like to go into details because I have an agreement with the team. The most accurate answer would be: the relationship was not easy for him.” he assured in an interview for Sports.ru.
Paula Badosa and Stefanos Tsitsipas
“It was an interesting relationship. It was not an ordinary relationship, because it was long distance. And they both began this relationship injured and in physical pain.. When they started dating, Paula couldn’t play at all due to a back injury. The relationship was difficult from the beginning” added the tennis player’s mother, who also reviewed other aspects of Stefanos’ daily life.
“He has so many interests outside of tennis that he cannot fully integrate into this tennis community. It doesn’t stimulate him enough. This could be his first problem in professional sports. And I knew it would be like this; I have been with him since childhood. And I knew he would have a motivation problem,” lamented Salnikova, who also revealed that it was she who put Goran Ivanisevic’s name on the table when her son decided to stop counting on his father as a coach.
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“Goran treated Djokovic like a loved person who needed unconditional support. Ivanisevic was willing to do anything for Djokovic, willing to indulge any whim. And that conquered me” he said.
“It turned out to be an illusion. Watching this relationship, I naively assumed it could be the same with the next player. But love like that only happens once in a lifetime; no one can repeat it. Not only did I advise him on his hiring, but I insisted. And I take full responsibility. I take the blame that it was a wrong decision.” he concluded.
