World No. 4 Stefanos Tsitsipas gave it his all, but couldn’t get a happy ending to his 2021 French Open journey as he lost a long battle to World No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the final.
Now that the tennis season has moved to the grass court, Tsitsipas has withdrawn from the ATP Halle Open 2021, which also features Roger Federer. Halle Open is one of the few grass court events leading up to the 2021 Wimbledon Championships.
Tsitsipas played one of the toughest matches of his career against Djokovic in the Roland Garros final. And with the Halle tournament starting just one day after the final, Tsitsipas has retired.
The Greek player was the second seeded and had received a wild card to participate in the grass tournament. Stefanos will now be replaced by Yannick Hanfmann in singles. He was also scheduled to play doubles with his brother Petros, and now that pairing won’t play either.
Instead of them, Yannick Hanfmann and Dominik Koepfer will join the draw. Halle Open has a very peculiar draw. It features defending champion and 10-time champion Roger Federer. Additionally, Roland Garros semi-finalist Alexander Zverev is the third seeded, and topping the draw is No.
2 of the world, Daniil Medvedev.
Tsitsipas was obviously affected by the final loss at the French Open. He was 2-0 up at one stage and once sought to complete a straight sets win over Djokovic.
However, Djokovic quickly changed gears and caught the young Greek. “I felt like my rhythm was out of place. I really don’t know why. It was very strange … I suddenly felt cold and beside myself.
It was difficult to readjust. I lost my game a bit, ”said Tsitsipas. Now, with very few grass-court events before Wimbledon, Tsitsipas is raising little concerns. Plus, grass does the opposite of clay, and you’ll need some practice before Wimbledon to get used to the surface.
But there is no question that Tsitsipas can quickly get his mojo on the grass and continue his stellar form.
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