Stefanos Tsitsipas made his breakthrough on the major stage by winning the ATP Tour Finals, clinching a comeback victory over Dominic Thiem at the 02 Arena. The Greek bounced back from losing the first set to defeat his rival on a tie-breaker, ensuring that he ended the 2019 season on a high note.
Tsitsipas now has the challenge of building on his triumph in 2020 where he will attempt to win the first Grand Slam of his career. The 21-year-old is backed in the tennis betting odds at 12/1 to claim the Australian Open crown. His performance at the event in Melbourne last year was his best effort to date in a major competition, reaching the semi-finals of the event.
However, the presence of the big three – Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer – will once again be a daunting prospect for the rising star along with the potential return of Andy Murray. Tsitsipas will also have to cope with the challengers from his own generation. Daniil Medvedev, Alexander Zverev and Thiem will also be in the reckoning for their first Grand Slam victory. It bodes well for the future of tennis that a new crop of talent is emerging behind the ranks of the top three players in the world that have dominated the sport for the last 15 years.
Tsitsipas has shown that he is more than capable of taking down the established order. He defeated Federer in the fourth round of the Australian Open on his way to the last four. After losing a tie-breaker in the opening set, he reeled off three sets on the bounce to send the Swiss crashing out of the competition. The two players faced off again in London at the 02 and Tsitsipas once again had the beating of the 20-time Grand Slam champion, securing a straight-sets victory in their semi-final clash.
Nadal has been a tougher proposition for the Greek. The left-hander eased past him in Melbourne last year in straight sets, and although he gave the Spaniard all he could handle in London in the ATP Tour Finals, it still was not enough to defeat him in their round-robin duel. Tsitsipas has won one of his six matches against Nadal and that will have to improve if he is to win a Grand Slam in the near future as the world number one is going nowhere soon.
Djokovic was off colour at the ATP Tour Finals, but 2019 was a return to his old dominance. After two failures at the Australian Open from 2017 to 2018, he claimed his seventh crown in Melbourne by defeating Nadal before winning Wimbledon with a triumph over Federer. After overcoming his injury woes, Djokovic appears to be well on track to catching his two contemporaries for major wins.
Tsitsipas has to work out a way to dislodge the Serb from top spot in Australia. The 21-year-old has split his four meetings with Djokovic so there is hope that he could produce a performance to defeat him in a final. The Greek has to capitalise on his momentum, and the ATP Tour Finals triumph could be the start of a rise to the top that could see the beginning of the end of the old guard’s dominance of the sport.
