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Stefanos Tsitsipas has been enjoying life under a new coaching team for the past few months.
Back in June, Tsitsipas split with his coach and father, Apostolos, for the second time in his career just before the Wimbledon Championships. The Greek star then appointed a new team, made up of Thomas Perrin and Serena Williams’ former coach, Patrick Mouratoglou.
With the new staff, Tsitsipas won his 13th career title at the Swiss Open and reached the fourth round of the US Open, his best Grand Slam finish in over two years.
Asked in an Almaty Open press conference how Perrin and Mouratoglou have helped him, Tsitsipas replied: “They allow me to live with a little bit more discipline, with a little bit more structure in my daily life, I feel like one thing that I lacked a little bit in the past is structure.
“There wasn’t a programme in place of why we’re doing certain things and why we are working towards a direction like that. And I personally felt that things were sometimes a bit too random for what I was aiming for myself personally.
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“So it’s very good to have a structure like that in my life. I’ve become a morning person, in fact, in the last couple of months. And that was not the case with me, maybe not my whole career. I used to sleep a little bit later, not because I partied or anything, it’s just like all my creativity and all my sort of free roaming mind came out later at night and I’ve just become a more disciplined version of myself.
“That’s what I’ve observed over the last couple of months. That’s what I’ve seen through my routines and the way I approach the game, the way I approach my off-court activities as well. There’s much more structure in my mind and there’s also much more discipline and simplicity in the ways I go about my business.”
Tsitsipas continued: “I know my level, I know how I’ve played in the past, I know what I’m capable of with my game. I’ve made a few mistakes in the past, personal mistakes, mistakes that surround me. So it’s all about building confidence, those wins reflect that. It’s all about getting that confidence, playing good tennis.
“I’m pretty sure results will come if the tennis is there. It’s very rare you see people that play good and perform good on the tennis court and do those fundamental things right, end up being the losers of a match or not end up winning a match.
“For me, it’s important to stick to the fundamentals: that is consistency, that is finding the depth, the angles, all these important things that make tennis such a unique sport. The more consistency I bring into my shot-making and my positioning on the board, the higher the chances of me getting back to where I actually belong.
“Tennis is not necessarily a complicated sport, I feel like a lot of us make it complicated. It’s ABC; if you’re able to complete those three steps, it feels good to be back playing that type of tennis. It feels good to have things clear in my mind and not have any doubts, what this, what that.
“I’m just, in my mind right now, I’m completely focused on long-term vision. Of course, I’m enjoying this week right now, but I’m constantly seeking and searching for what can be better, what can help me a little bit more. These things are occupying my mind daily because I really want to extract the most out of my game.”
Tsitsipas is currently ranked 39th in the world, having fallen as low as 88th this season.