"Stefanos Tsitsipas seemingly fell in love publicly for the 1st time" - Jim Courier expects Greek to have 'more maturity' after year of highs & lows
Jim Courier recently talked about the emotional highs and lows of Stefanos Tsitsipas' year, before saying he expects the Greek to become more mature next year.
Tsitsipas was last seen in action at the 2023 ATP Finals in Turin. The Greek, who won the title in 2019, was drawn into the Green Group along with Novak Djokovic, Holger Rune, and Jannik Sinner.
The sixth seed faced home favorite Jannik Sinner in the opener and lost 4-6, 4-6. In the second round-robin match, the Greek faced eighth seed Holger Rune. But 14 minutes into the tie, Tsitsipas retired citing an injury, and was eventually replaced by first alternate Hubert Hurkacz.
On the recent Tennis Channel Inside-In podcast, four-time Grand Slam winner Jim Courier talked about the eventful year that Tsitsipas has had, which included the start of his relationship with Paula Badosa.
"It was a year of growth is the way that I would kind of pinpoint this one for Steph [Tsitsipas]. He went through a lot this year. You know, he seemingly fell in love publicly for the first time [with girlfriend, Paula Badosa]. He got rid of his father as a coach for a minute and brought in Mark Philippoussis. And then that didn't seem to pan out. And he went back to dad. He won a doubles title with his brother, which was a magical moment. So there was a lot of emotional highs and lows here," Courier said.
The former World No. 1 then predicted that Stefanos Tsitsipas would be more mature next year as a result of all the learnings of this season.
"The Australian Open, certainly a great start to the season. And then he had some dips from a playing standpoint, and this is disappointing to see him have to suffer physically and not be able to finish the year strong, but his assets are in place. He's got a great game. He's an incredible athlete. And I think that there's going to be more maturity in him next year as a result of everything he went through, which is part of the human experience," Courier said.
Courier also said watching Tsitsipas's rollercoaster year had been fun.
"Yeah. And it just happens to be that he's living it in a bright white spotlight and we're all getting to see it. And some of it they're opting to show us. And I get all of that. The excitement and exuberance is kind of fun. It's been fun to follow this year in a way," he added.
Jim Courier likens Stefanos Tsitsipas' game to Roger Federer's
Jim Courier also likened the playing style of World No. 6 Stefanos Tsitsipas to that of 20-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer. The former American player added, however, that Tsitsipas will have to improve certain areas of his game, like his backhand slice, to push for a maiden Grand Slam title.
"Yeah. And when he gets on this front foot, he is as good as anybody. He takes that forehand early and you just go, Oh, it looks just like what [Roger] Federer used to do to players. And he gets in and he's solid at the net, the return to serve on the backhand, the slice on the backhand. Those are areas for him to look at and to improve. And they're exploitable at the moment," Courier said.
The four-time Grand Slam winner then gave the example of Novak Djokovic's constant resolve to become a better player to explain why Stefanos Tsitsipas needs to keep improving.
"And you know, if he wants to get up to that next level, which is not very far, by the way, he's been close, to win in a Major. That'd be, he'd be wise to try and look at those and try and make them just a little bit better. Every year you got to try and get a little bit better because Djokovic certainly has been doing that," he concluded.
Following Stefanos Tsitsipas' withdrawal from the 2023 ATP Finals, World No. 9 Hubert Hurkacz played in the third round-robin match in the Green Group against Novak Djokovic. The Pole put up a fight against the top seed but eventually lost 6-7(1), 6-4, 1-6.