Stefanos Tsitsipas recently made a choice between two tennis legends, picking Rafael Nadal over Novak Djokovic.
With some free time on his hands after not qualifying for the ATP Finals this year, Tsitsipas has been in the spotlight for other reasons. His season ended with a quarterfinal loss to Alexander Zverev at the Paris Masters, but he’s still making headlines with his social media comments.
In one of those comments, he criticized the ATP’s decision to increase two-week Masters 1000 tournaments. He argued that it harmed the quality of tennis and was unnecessary.
| Name | Age | Points | Stats 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| gr Stefanos Tsitsipas | 26 | 3,740 | 28 - 10 |
Tsitsipas and Wawrinka’s Exchange:
Stan Wawrinka chimed in by sharing an old video of Tsitsipas from 2022 where he seemed to support the idea of longer tournaments when talking to Andrea Gaudenzi. It seems Tsitsipas has had a change of heart since then, which is fine, but he didn’t mention this shift in his recent remarks. Fans might wonder why he changed his mind so quickly.
Wawrinka’s response was more playful than serious—a bit of friendly teasing. At 39 years old, Wawrinka plans to continue playing on the ATP Tour next year without any retirement plans just yet.
This year has been tough for Tsitsipas; he even parted ways with his father as coach after many years together. Their relationship remains complicated since then.
Recently, during an interview game with 433 where athletes were compared against each other, Tsitsipas appeared more at ease. He chose between sports stars until only one remained.
He picked Carlos Alcaraz over Jude Bellingham first and then Roger Federer over Alcaraz because Alcaraz is still early in his career journey. Later choices included Michael Jordan over Federer and Messi; Muhammad Ali instead of Jordan and Ronaldo; finally landing on Nadal over Ali and LeBron James.
The final choice was between Nadal and Djokovic—Tsitsipas chose Nadal without hesitation. Some fans might find this surprising given Djokovic’s impressive stats: most Grand Slam wins in ATP history (tied with Margaret Court), longest time as world No.1, most ATP Finals titles—the list goes on!
Why did Tsitsipas go for Nadal? Perhaps it’s due to Nadal’s unmatched 14 French Open titles or maybe it’s about how classy he’s been throughout his career.
As for Nadal himself? His last professional match before retiring will be at next week’s Davis Cup Finals when Team Spain faces Team Netherlands on November 19th.
What do you think about these choices?
