By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Sunday April 17, 2022
With his elbow issues now solidly in the past, Stefanos Tsitsipas has grand ambitions for the 2022 season. The Greek, who became just the sixth player in history to successfully defend the Monte-Carlo title on Sunday by notching a 6-3, 7-6(3) victory over Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, says he wants to expand his success to the hard courts and grass courts and eventually manage to finish in the Top-2 of the ATP rankings this year.
“If I'm able to win matches with the same consistency I do on this surface, I think I have a big chance of finishing the year in the top two, which is a huge goal of mine to be finally there and belong in that special group of players,” Tsitsipas said.
For now Tsitsipas is set up to spend the next two months on his favorite surface, which suits his game perfectly. On clay Tsitsipas finds more time to set up for his shots and plays with more clarity. He says in the past he used to try to make his clay game work on the faster surfaces, but he has come to realize that he needs to be more adaptable in order to win on hard and grass.
The 23-year old plans to do this by adjusting his game to the demands of tennis' faster surfaces.
“My tennis is great I think everywhere, with clay maybe being the surface that I can adjust the best,” he said on Sunday in Monte-Carlo. “You know, I have had moments where I was trying to apply what I apply on clay on hard. Doesn't really seem to be working much. Sometimes it's not really the way to go.”
Tsitsipas said it is a learning process when he is off the clay, but he’s going to embrace the challenge.
“This has also [taught] me a lot, that I should adjust and I should never really become obsessive that, ‘Okay, whatever works on clay should work on faster surfaces. I had difficulties adjusting to grass because of that, because I was trying in my head to maybe stick that, okay, this is the way I should be also playing on other surfaces,’” he said. “But I think sometimes it just needs a bit more time for me to really get into it with a lot of practice sessions, with a lot of friendly matches on court.”
The Greek clearly does not see himself as a player that can only win the big victories and titles on clay. He currently owns a 65-21 record on clay (.756 winning percentage) with four titles, versus a 137-73 record on hard (.652) with four titles, and 8-8 on grass (.500) and zero titles.
He thinks he can do better.
“I strongly believe that I'm able to not just win tournaments on clay but on hard courts and grass court, which is my favorite surface, and which in recent years I haven't really been doing as well as I would have wanted, but it's a goal of mine to get back to it and change the style when I have to play on these courts,” Tsitsipas said.