"Stefanos Tsitsipas and Apostolos had constant conflicts" - Greek's mother lays bare cracks in husband and son's coach-player relationship after split
Stefanos Tsitsipas' mother Julia Apostoli has had her say on the brewing tensions between her son and husband Apostolos that ultimately led to a breakdown in their player-coach relationship. In the first half of August this year, Tsitsipas confirmed that his father would no longer serve as his coach.
The former World No. 3, has seen his fortunes on the ATP Tour dwindle in recent times, having fallen out of the top 10.
Even though Stefanos Tsitsipas has had multiple resurgent spells, particularly earlier this year when he won the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters and reached the final of the Barcelona Open, for the most part, he has been subpar.
The 26-year-old's father Apostolos, who served as his primary coach for several years, came under fire from him after his shock second-round loss to veteran Kei Nishikori at the 2024 National Bank Open in Montreal. Not long after, Tsitsipas announced that the 56-year-old would keep traveling with him on the ATP Tour, but not in the capacity of a coach.
Recently, Stefanos Tsitsipas' mother Julia revealed in an interview with Greek media outlet ProtoThema that the player-coach relationship between the World No. 12 and his father had been strained for years.
"Since 2020, when he lost at the US Open, we said with Apostolos that Stefanos should change his coach. But four years passed and Stefanos was bringing good results. However, I think that Stefanos and Apostolos did not have a good relationship since then, they had constant conflicts. And that's why Stefanos made the decision to change his coach," Julia Apostoli said.
However, she went on to say that despite her son and husband's split, they remain a "tight-knit family".
"We don't see it as a tragedy. We are a tight-knit family. Apostolos, as a coach, had entered deeply into Stefanos' work and had not realized that he was putting pressure on him. He only had tennis on his mind," she added.
Tsitsipas' disappointing performances, especially at Majors since he reached the final of the 2023 Australian Open, have also seen his attitude questioned.
Stefanos Tsitsipas' tennis ambitions were doubted by his former fitness coach earlier this year
In June this year, Christos Fiotakis, a fitness coach who previously worked with Stefanos Tsitsipas, cast doubt on the Greek's motivation to compete for the biggest prizes in men's tennis. Fiotakis' critique came in an interview with SDNA, in the wake of his departure from Tsitsipas' camp.
According to the fitness coach, the World No. 12's work ethic is not how it should be if he is to improve his ATP Tour ranking and win Majors.
"I am not satisfied with Stefanos' work ethics. Right now I don't think his ultimate focus is on playing tennis and getting to the top of the rankings or winning Grand Slams," Fiotakis said.
Tsitsipas' last appearance on court came at the US Open, where he suffered a disastrous opening-round exit to Thanasi Kokkinakis. He is next set to appear at the Laver Cup in Berlin.