It has been a series of highs and lows for Stefanos Tsitsipas this season. He faced an early exit from the first major tournament (AO) in 2025 but then made a QF run in Rotterdam before securing his 12th title of his career in Dubai. After that, he yet again had a disappointing campaign at the ‘Sunshine Doubles‘ before making two successive QF runs in Monte Carlo and Barcelona. At the French Open, he faced defeat at the hands of number 134 in the second round, and even his grass-court swing didn’t start off well as he went down to America’s Alex Michelsen in the R16 of the Terra Wortmann Open. Is this a worrying sign for the Greek ahead of the 2025 Wimbledon?
Well, three years ago, in an interview, Stefanos Tsitsipas admitted, “People kind of doubted that I can play on grass, I think it’s fair to say. I never doubted myself. I said – I insisted, in fact – that I can play on this surface, and it remains one of my favorite surfaces. I guess I proved myself [in Mallorca] that it’s not a surface that I don’t like. I like playing on grass, probably more than on clay.” He has a win-loss record of 27-20 on grass. His best record at Wimbledon has been reaching the fourth round twice (2018,2023). The Greek will be keen to put up a better performance in this edition of the iconic grass court event, and guess what?
Despite facing a defeat in his previous grass court event, Stefanos Tsitsipas has now managed to grab some confidence after facing America’s Frances Tiafoe in the Giorgio Armani Tennis Classic in Hurlingham. He defeated the American by 7-6(9), 6(4)-7,10-7 in this exhibition match. If we take a look at their H2H record on Tour, both of them are currently level at 3-3. In 2019, after their meeting at the Hopman Cup, Stefanos Tsitsipas heaped praise on Tiafoe by saying, “He didn’t want to lose, he’s a big fighter.” What did he say after this match?
Well, after this exhibition match, when Tsitsipas was asked to reflect a bit on his serve and if he has been getting any tips from his new coach Goran Ivanisevic, he said, “Today was a great day. Obviously, Frances is right. I’ve never seen myself serve this way so I’d say it’s an improvement so far. I thank him for it. For giving me the space and time to execute those (serves)..hope I can come up with those serves at Wimbledon.“
Stefanos Tsitsipas started working with Novak Djokovic’s ex-coach shortly after the 2025 French Open. While talking about this partnership in one of his interviews with Tennis Channel, he said, “We have already started working together and I am learning a lot every day. Well, I think it’s fair to say that Goran is one of the best servers of all time. So I think the serve is definitely one of the priorities.“
Tsitsipas on his serve & if he’s been getting tips from new coach Goran Ivanisevic
“Today was a great day. Obviously Frances is right. I’ve never seen myself serve this way so I’d say it’s an improvement so far..hope I can come up with those serves at Wimbledon”@Tennis_Classic pic.twitter.com/ph1K0iQXnP
— TennisONE App (@TennisONEApp) June 24, 2025
Other than winning the Wimbledon Championships in 2001 as a player, he has helped Djokovic lift three titles at this grass-court major. Can he now help Stefanos Tsitsipas find success at SW19?
Stefanos Tsitsipas’ new coach reveals what he needs to improve to get better results on grass
Before the start of the Halle Open, Goran Ivanisevic said that Stefanos Tsitsipas needs to do a lot of hard work to improve his game on this surface. But what is the main issue that is stopping him from achieving success on the grass? “Generally, he doesn’t have good results on grass. I don’t know why. It’s only [mental]. If you put in your head, ‘I cannot play on grass’, then you cannot play well, because grass doesn’t forgive you anything. If you get pissed on grass, the grass gives you it back. You have to be nice to the grass.” He believes he can play much better on this surface.
In fact, in an interview with ATPTour.com, Ivanisevic even said that he believes Stefanos Tsitsipas is a Top 10 player on any day. The Greek is currently ranked 26th in the world! Can he get back to the Top 10? Time will tell!
However, even Andy Roddick is quite optimistic about his success after joining hands with the Croatian. In a previous interview on Tennis Channel Live, Roddick said, “Stef [Tsitsipas] needs a jolt of energy, right? A reason to focus, and obviously, when you have someone who has won Wimbledon in your corner, you’d be well served to listen.” He believes bringing in Goran Ivanisevic is a great move, and he also thinks that this would be a “great partnership.“ Just like Roddick, CoCo Vandeweghe also believes Ivanisevic and Tsitsipas will achieve great things, especially on grass, because she feels both of them have similar games. What are your thoughts on this, though?
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