Coué Method? The Greek assures him. The lights are green when defending a bunch of points. Seeded 7, the Athens native, under pressure, has 1200 points not to lose in Melbourne, as the defending finalist. The 25-year-old was beaten in a three-set final last year by Novak Djokovic. A successful Australian Open and it's off again? In any case, the Australian Grand Slam is the one that is most successful for the Athenian. In six appearances, he has reached the semi-finals four times in the Antipodes. He was due to face Matteo Berrettini in the first round. The latter, eternally injured, withdrew and was replaced by world number 129 Zizou Bergs. After dropping a set to the Belgian on Monday in the first round, Tsitsipas secured 5-7, 6-1, 6-1, 6-3, in 3 hours of play, and reassured himself: "The way I recovered is pretty crazy. I got through it quicker than a lot of the other players I've talked to. I did everything I could to get back on the court as soon as possible. Now everything is fine and I know I'm going in the right direction.
»To discover
- Australian Open: women's schedule and results
- Australian Open: men's schedule and results
Read alsoAustralian Open: in video, the very unusual point won by Stefanos Tsitsipas
Good foot, good eye, he adds: "It was great to show a good level of play again. I felt much better on the pitch and I stayed focused. In the second and third sets, I played some great tennis. I hit the nail on the head, took the initiative in the exchanges." Forget the back injury sustained at the end of last season at the Masters that forced him to withdraw from his second pool match at the Masters last November, leaving the court after only three games in his second pool match against Holger Rune. It was a sad epilogue to a gloomy second half of the season marked by a fiasco at the US Open and an elimination in the 2nd round against the modest Dominic Stricker. Throughout the year, the Greek has shown his happiness with his partner Paula Badosa, but on the court he has lost the flame, too often accepting defeat without rebellion. His one-handed backhand, which is certainly very aesthetic, became a real weakness last season, targeted by all his opponents. Very mediocre in return as well (he won only 20% of his return games according to ATP stats), he displayed technical weaknesses unworthy of a top 10 in the world. Still coached by his father Apostolos, after a short interlude with the Australian Mark Philipoussis, the 25-year-old Greek seemed to regress, having won only one title in Los Cabos (ATP 250).
He only beat one member of the top 10 last season (Alexander Zverev at Bercy). Facing the two nuggets of the new generation Alcaraz and Sinner, he suffers the comparison. He is 5-0 down in his head-to-head meetings with the Spaniard and has lost both of his duels against the Italian in 2023. In 2024, will Tsistispas become a major player again? Facing Jordan Thompson, who recently defeated Rafael Nadal in Brisbane, the Greek has the opportunity to confirm his rise to power to play the leading roles again.