World No.9 Stefanos Tsitsipas recently ended his losing streak of 11 final defeats in the ATP 500 category. He beat Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-3, 6-3 in the Dubai Open final to win his 12th ATP title.
It was Tsitispas’ first title since last year’s Monte Carlo Masters. Even though Tsitsipas made headlines for his victory, French tennis journalist Benoit Maylin pointed out one problem in his’ game which is going to trouble him for the rest of his career.
Maylin doesn’t foresee Tsitsipas winning a Grand Slam title without making any changes to his game. The Greek is a two-time Grand Slam finalist, having reached the summit clashes of the 2021 French Open and 2023 Australian Open, losing both matches to 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic.
Tsitsipas had a disappointing campaign at this year’s Australian Open as he suffered a first-round exit. America’s 20-year-old Alex Michelsen knocked him out in four sets.
The Dubai Open title helped Stefanos Tsitsipas get back to the top 10 and he will be the eighth seed in his next tournament, the Indian Wells Open. It will be the 26-year-old’s fifth tournament of the season following the Australian Open, Rotterdam Open, Qatar Open, and Dubai Open.
The first ATP 1000 Masters tournament of the season will mark Tsitsipas’ seventh appearance. He made his main draw debut in 2018 and reached the second round. The following year was no different as he was knocked out of the tournament in the second round. In 2021, however, Tsitsipas progressed to the quarterfinals.
He couldn’t make a deep run the next year, losing in the third round. Tsitsipas didn’t have success in 2023 and 2024 either, as he got knocked out of the second and fourth rounds, respectively. Last year, Jiri Lehecka eliminated him.
