Stefanos Tsitsipas makes serious changes to his game moving into the clay season as he makes a stunning comeback in Monte Carlo
Stefanos Tsitsipas has been off to a sensational start to the 2024 Monte Carlo Masters. He defeated Serbia’s Laslo Djere in the first round of the tournament pretty convincingly.
The Greek won the first set pretty easily and also had a 3-2 lead in the second set when the Serbian gave up a walkover. The 25-year-old is now through to the round of 32, but his opponent has not been decided yet.
This victory will add to the Greek’s confidence, and it was much needed given the rough patch that he has been going through. Just recently, he crashed out of the first round of the Miami Open after losing against a much lower-rated Denis Shapalov.
His best performance so far this year came in the Indian Wells, where he reached the round of 16 before losing to Jiri Lehecka.
After his victory against Laslo Djere, Stefanos Tsitsipas explained how the clay season is quite different. He said how it opens up new angles and depths within the playable court if the players use it wisely. Tsitsipas thus went on to talk about some changes that he has adopted to his game, especially for the clay season.
Clay court season you can do a lot of great things. Using the trajectory of the ball. Mixing it up by opening the court, mixing the trajectory of the shot to give you access to new angles and depths within the playable court. Stefanos Tsitsipas said in the on-court interview.
One thing I’m more aware of this year than any other year is to come to net a bit more often and not wait as much stuck on the baseline.. rallying sometimes too much in my opinion. I want to try to apply it more in my future matches. The Greek added
Can Stefanos Tsitsipas get back to the Top-10 rankings this clay season?
Stefanos Tsitsipas has been off to a horrible start in 2024. He lost to Taylor Fritz in the fourth round of the Australian Open and crashed out of the Grand Slam. As a result, he dropped out of the Top-10 rankings (ATP). It was the cumulative result of a series of poor performances that the Greek have had lately.
He is currently about 300 points short of a place in the Top 10 rankings and has the possibility of getting there during the Monte Carlo Masters itself.
However, for that to happen, he will have to outperform Alex de Minaur, who is currently ranked 10th on the ATP rankings and has yet to play his Round of 64 match against Stan Wawrinka in the tournament. Tsitsipas is currently 12th in the rankings, while Holger Rune is 11th.
Moreover, he will have the opportunity to improve his rankings at the upcoming French Open as well. Thus, there is a good possibility that Stefanos Tsitsipas will get back to the Top-10 rankings by the end of this clay season.