The Canadian Open brought the feud between Stefanos Tsitsipas and his father, Apostolos Tsitsipas, to light. The Greek star lost to the Japanese veteran Kei Nishikori in R2. Midway through the match, Tsitsipas shouted at his father asking him to “immediately leave.” What followed Stefanos’ devastating defeat was a big change in his team. Tsitsipas fired his father as coach. After over a month, Apostolos has finally opened up about the emotional aftermath of the dreaded day!
Although things quietened down with time, everyone was left wondering about the aftermath of the confrontation between father and son during the match. Finally, Apostolos shared his thoughts on the incident with the Newsit on September 28th and revealed that Stefanos did apologize to him, not once but many times. While narrating the reason for Tsitsipas’ emotional outburst, he said, “Athletes are under a lot of pressure. Many times they will go out of their way.”
Rightly so. It’s difficult for the spectators at times to understand the emotions of the players. And it certainly takes a good amount of time for the players as well to channel their emotions the right way. Apostolos praised his son, and further added, “At some point, someone will mature and understand that they have to manage it. Stefanos Tsitsipas is a very good boy and has a good soul.” The 25-year-old won 11 tour-level titles under his father’s guidance, including the Nitto ATP Finals in 2019.
Apostolos further differentiated between judging the behavior of an athlete and the athlete in general. He said, “We do not judge the athlete, we judge his behavior in the stadium.” But in Tsitsipas’ case, it was not just his behavior that was criticized that day, the Greek’s stature as an athlete also took a hit. However, Apostolos revealed, “I received many apologies, not one. The problem is not the apology, the problem is for him to understand why this is the reason,” Apostolos further remarked. So where has Tsisipas stood since the split?
