The sport of tennis is set for a defining season in 2020. With the top three players in the world over the past 15 years – Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer – entering the twilight of their careers, new players have emerged as genuine threats to their supremacy.
In this 8-part series, we’ll assess each player in the top eight and what they can achieve in 2020. We’ll look at how their positions are under threat and what they can do to attain their goals in the season to come. It’s never easy to look forward, but with our 2020 vision, you’ll have the benefit of hindsight when you’re talking tennis during the next 12 months.
We continue our series with a look at a player who won the ATP Finals at the end of the year in stunning fashion, defeating giants of the game along the way.
Greek tennis pro Stefanos Tsitsipas has united many new fans to the game with his unique brand of forehand power and flair around the court. In 2019, Tsitsipas triumphed against players he might previously have had no expectation of doing so. In 2020, it is unlikely anything will surprise his millions of fans around the world.
Tsitsipas has everything in his game, and at the age of just 21 years old, has the world at his feet. Living in Monaco and having earned a reported $9.8 million, the Greek tennis God is going to be the player to watch out for in 2020. Don’t believe us? Watch this.
What’s in his locker?
Tsitsipas burst onto the scene in 2016 as a young player, reaching quarter finals in all four junior Grand Slams events. The world took notice and in 2018, he advanced on the Top 50 with his unique brand of devastating power shots, often dominating points from the baseline, with stunning, pinpoint accuracy and rocket-powered pace.
While Tsitsipas has an all-court game that has seen him reach the Australian Open semi-final and win the ATP Finals, he prefers Wimbledon to any other event, and surface. Despite that, Tsitsipas grew up in Greece on the baked clay courts that Rafael Nadal did back in Majorca, and the Greek player has the air of Andre Agassi about his personality, never being out of contention. Maybe the only difference will be his hairline, although at the age of 21, Agassi has flowing locks too!
His Grand Slam record
Stefanos Tsitsipas has reached the semi-final of only one Grand Slam event, that being the 2019 Australian Open, which took place back in January of that year. Despite that semi-final appearance, Tsitsipas did not replicate it at the French Open, where he reached the 4th round.
At Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in 2019, Tsitsipas could not live up to the growing expectations placed upon his young shoulders, ending his journey is those events in the 1st round. However, despite Daniil Medvedev being another example of a player who went further, the Russian reaching the U.S. Open final against Rafael Nadal, Tsitsipas took those early defeats and put them to good use when he bounced back in amazing style in London at the year-end ATP Finals, winning it by defeating Dominic Thiem in the final.
Where are his weaknesses?
Technically, Tsitsipas has few deficiencies, with an incredibly strong all-round game. He is young, and the consistency and maturity that comes with age is not quite there yet, but at such a young age, Tsitsipas is miles ahead of many of his contemporaries at the same stage in their careers.
The Greek player is under a little more pressure for the 2020 season, having become the ATP Finals champion. However, while other players may buckle under the pressure, Tsitsipas has already shown he plays without fear and if he can continue to do that in the next 12 months, it is difficult to see Tsitsipas not winning a Grand Slam title.
The verdict
If Tsitsipas is to win a Grand Slam in 2020, then he’ll need all the weapons that he has at his disposal. From baseline winners to his phenomenal ability to return from anywhere on the court, the Greek player will be desperate to prove his fans right and win the first of what will surely be many Grand Slam victories.
With a strong record at the Australian Open already, Tsitsipas will be right at from the very first point of the season. Even if he cannot grab glory Down Under, he will be a force to be reckoned with all year.
Slams to Win: Raw, talented, and with the momentum behind his, we think Tsitsipas will become a Grand Slam winner in 2020, if not in Australia then quite possibly at the U.S. Open where hard-court memories of the ATP Finals victory will stand him in good stead.
