Stefanos Tsitsipas four wins away from achieving new career milestone
Stefanos Tsitsipas has had the best year of his young career so far. He won his maiden Masters 1000 title in Monte-Carlo and reached his first ever Grand Slam final at Roland Garros.
He was close to winning too, leading World No. 1 Novak Djokovic by two sets before the Serbian legend made one of his famed comebacks to win his second French Open and 19th Grand Slam title.
Tsitsipas also won the 2021 Lyon Open and made another two finals. The Greek has been consistent throughout the year with deep runs in most of the tournaments that he has played in. Accordingly, he is the leader in match wins this year, with a whopping 51.
That has put him in a position to surpass his personal best of 54 match wins in a season, which he achieved in 2019. Tsitsipas will be playing in at least three more tournaments over the next couple of months - the Indian Wells Masters, Vienna Open and ATP Finals.
With the way Tsitsipas has played this year, winning an additional four matches to achieve a new career milestone for him should be quite easy. Consequently, by playing a few more matches, he could also better his career record of 79 matches played in a season.
The former ATP Finals champion has played 66 matches this year and with another couple of good performances, he should be able to attain two career milestones by the end of the year.
Not everyone has the ability to deal with the grind of the tour for an entire year. Consistent runs throughout the season signifies strong mental fortitude and peak physical conditioning. However, despite his brilliant results, Tsitsipas has just two titles to his name and that's something he will be looking to rectify over the rest of the season.
Stefanos Tsitsipas and Maria Sakkari script history for Greece
Earlier this week Tsitsipas' compatriot Maria Sakkari made her debut in the top ten of the rankings. With the 23-year-old Tsitsipas already a steady presence in the top 10 for a couple of years, it was a momentous occasion for Greece as it became one of the few countries to have two players ranked in the top 10 at the same time.
Sakkari became only the second player (after Tsitsipas) and the first woman from the country to be ranked in the top 10.