From basically out of nowhere, Stefanos Tsitsipas’ has caught a sudden hot streak over the past couple of weeks. It continued when he secured a spot in round four of the BNP Paribas Open on Sunday.
On the heels of a 500-point title at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, Tsitsipas got the best of Matteo Berrettini 6-3, 6-3 after a mere one hour and eight minutes of play. The 26-year-old did not face a single break point in the entire match and he broke Berrettini on three occasions.
Following his success in Dubai, Tsitsipas posted on Instagram, “They said my game was sinking… so I got myself a boat.” It referenced his 2024 slump that saw him leave the top 10 to as low as No. 13 in the world, one that spilled over to 2025 with four losses in his first seven matches.
“I think it was obvious,” Tsitsipas responded after ousting Berrettini when asked about the Instagram missive. “(It) doesn’t take much to understand that. I wasn’t doing great lately, and the last few months weren’t amazing for me. I didn’t have any big results or victories that I could say that I’m headed towards a good direction with my game. So I feel like that caption sort of was a summary of the last few months.
“I just like a little bit of that humor like that. Doesn’t hurt. I was trying to find ways to improve. I feel like some of my opponents that I got to play were overpowering me and doing things much better than me when it came to playing bigger tennis. My entire career I’ve been known to be able to play big tennis, but it wasn’t big enough, and I felt like I had to do something about it.”
What has Tsitsipas done about it? For one, he switched to a new, blacked-out racket. The current world No. 9 says it his giving him more power than his previous stick, allowing him to better hit through conditions on tour that are becoming increasingly slower on a consistent basis–including at the Indian Wells Masters. He is also taking the court with more determination, eager to get back to the level that carried him to two Grand Slam finals and a career-high ranking of No. 3.
“I’m approaching these matches with determination and willingness to just leave it all out there on the court,” he commented. “I’ve seen improvements when it comes to my mindset. I just don’t want to take anything for granted. I fight for every single individual match as a different chapter, different story, regardless of what I have done before. I just feel like I want to get out there on the court and be a gladiator, and that’s how I approach every single match I get to play.”
It’s safe to say that it is now paying off for Tsitsipas. He has won seven consecutive matches in a row dating back to Dubai triumph, and–given the favorable, clay-like conditions in the desert–he could extend that streak even further.
“I grew up playing clay courts, so for me this is quite normal,” the Greek noted. “I’ve played my entire life with bounces like this. But I have to agree that, yeah, the bounce is unusual for card court. You don’t see that when you play hard courts.
“I feel like it kind of stops sometimes. It doesn’t really go through the court. But it reminds me a lot of clay. Like it literally feels like a clay-court version of hard.”
Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on Twitter at @Dimonator.