Stefanos Tsitsipas the ace of Greek tennis is constantly improving on the elite tennis circuit. Since being introduced to sports by his parent’s tennis coaches the child prodigy has set many records in the men’s category and in the world of tennis in general including becoming the world’s number-one junior player in 2016 and the youngest player ranked in the top 20 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) with a career-best world ranking of 15.
While reaching the top of the world rankings he also hopes to make his country’s name known on the world tennis map. His first career final at the Barcelona Open helped him to attract national attention in his native Greece where he hopes to promote the sport. With exploits and titles that continue to grow here’s what you should know about him.
Stefanos Tsitsipas’ Bio, Age
He was born on August 12 1998 in the suburbs of Athens Greece to a Greek father and a Russian mother who both worked as coaches at a summer resort in Greece. With tennis coaches as parents, it was not surprising that he was introduced to training; Tsitsipas was introduced to the sport at the age of 3 when he started hitting the ball with his father.
However, tennis was not the only sport he was in love with he also loved swimming and played football but eventually chose tennis over the others. The competition and challenge associated with this sport made him addicted from the start. He decided to pursue a career there and sport in turn became his ticket to glory.
ALSO READ: Serena Williams Husband, Baby, Net Worth, Father, Height, Weight, Body
Stefanos Tsitsipas speaks three languages fluently including English Greek and Russian while studying in an English-language school as a child. He began his training at the age of six with his father as head coach and tennis icon Roger Federer being his idol. Tsitsipas began his junior career in 2013 and quickly rose through the ranks.
He registered and reached the Orange Bowl tournament final in 2014 but with a place outside the top 100 in the junior ranking. The following year Tsitsipas had his first chance to play in the junior Grand Slam tournaments recording his best result in the Australian Open events where he reached the quarter-finals. He also finished second at the Orange Bowl the same year climbing to 14th place in the junior world at the end of the season.
After his successes in the 2015 season, he joined the Patrick Mouratoglou Academy in France where he started training. This movement marked a turning point in his career. In 2016 he won his first significant trophy in the sport since he started playing; his first A category title at the Trofeo Bonfiglio in Italy as well as the European Junior Championships. However, his biggest win of the season was the Wimbledon boys’ doubles victory in London in partnership with Estonian player Kenneth Raisma who became his only junior Grand Slam tournament at Wimbledon.
With this victory, Stefanos Tsitsipas became the third Greek player and the first Greek of the open era to win a junior Grand Slam title. On the wings of success, he also earned his top two spots (Wimbledon and US Open semi-finals) in singles in Grand Slam tournaments and placed first in the world junior ranking.
He continued his momentum by winning his first ATP match in late 2017 and his first career Grand Slam matches at Roland Garros against Carlos Taberner in 2018 before losing to Dominic Thiem a future finalist. He reached two ATP finals in 2018 including his first career Masters Series final at the Canadian Open where he became the youngest player to beat four of the top ten opponents in a single event including Dominic Thiem 8th Novak Djokovic 10th Alexander Zverev 3rd and Kevin Anderson 6th who lost to Rafael Nadal in the final. He also rose through the ATP ranks to 15th in the world.
Family Life of the Greek Tennis Player
Stefanos comes from a simple family who loves tennis very much. As mentioned earlier he was introduced to the sport by his parents who were at the forefront. His mother Julia Apostoli (née Salnikova) was a professional on the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) tour and like her son was the world’s number one junior. His father Apostolos Tsitsipas is a trained tennis coach and to help train his children he studied tennis at the University of Athens. As such he is his son’s head coach and follows him through his games around the world.
He grew up at the Astir Palace Hotel where his parents worked as tennis instructors at the time of his birth. The tennis elite is the first of four children; He has two brothers Petros and Pavlos and one sister Elisavet who all play tennis. Sport runs through the entire brood of the Tsitsipas family. In addition to his immediate family his mother’s maternal side has also produced professional athletes. His aunt (his mother’s twin sister) was also a tennis player and his grandfather Sergei Salnikof was an Olympic gold medalist in men’s football in Melbourne in 1956 and a coach.
ALSO READ: Venus Williams Married, Husband, Father, Son, Net Worth, Height, Weight
The young man attributes his professional career to the disparity of his origins; if he refers to a Russian heritage for his discipline and ethics he attributes his optimism and positive spirit to his Greek team.
Stefanos Tsitsipas who learned the sport at an early age decided to become a professional tennis player at the age of nine. His hobbies include watching tennis games playing video games swimming going to the movies and going out with friends. He also likes travel blogs which he says ease his stress on tour.
Stefanos Tsitsipas Girlfriend
It’s either the 6′ 4″ tennis player is so focused on his career that he’s not ready to get into a relationship or he has a girlfriend but he hasn’t told his fans about it yet. Anyway, we wish him good luck and would be there to give you details if he introduces you to his girlfriend.
