Despite his major slump in form, Stefanos Tsitsipas is through to the round of 16 of the Madrid Open.
Tsitsipas’ performance was slammed by Jim Courier during his match against Alexander Bublik, despite the Greek star’s straight sets victory.
The world number 75 followed his victory against Bublik with a win against Daniel Merida to set up a match with Casper Ruud.
Tsitsipas has revealed the one thing he wants to change about his game in order to compete at the top of the ATP Tour again.
Stefanos Tsitsipas cites major improvements to climb the rankings
Tsitsipas has put in some worrying performances so far this year, and he is well aware of the fundamental changes he needs to make.
Speaking to Ziggo Sport, he said: “I used to be one of the best players in the world on serve plus one, despite not being world number one.
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“I was up there with one of the best in managing serve plus one and I feel like something I’ve lost recently is that. That is something that gave me a lot of wins.
“It gave me a lot of big wins actually against good opponents and I managed to execute my game plan really confidently with a lot of aggression and confidence behind every single shot.
“I feel like lately it hasn’t been going as well, so I’m trying to fix a few things and adjust so I can relive that feeling again.”
Tsitsipas has been as high in the rankings as world number 3, which came for the Greek star during the 2021 season.
The star has reached as far as the semi-finals of the Madrid Open, so he still has some way to go to beat his best-ever performance.
However, Ruud will provide a difficult test for the Greek star, particularly on his favoured surface of clay.
Stefanos Tsitsipas’ head-to-head record with Casper Ruud
Tsitsipas and Ruud’s round of 16 match at the Madrid Open will be their first ATP Tour meeting for over two years.
Their head-to-head record is incredibly close, with Ruud narrowly leading the Greek star with three victories from their five matches.
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Two out of three of Ruud’s victories have come on clay, which is bad news for Tsitsipas ahead of their Madrid meeting.
Ruud has beaten Tsitsipas at Madrid before, in their first meeting in 2021 which brought a straight sets win for the Norwegian.
Tsitsipas, meanwhile, has Masters victories against Ruud at the Monte-Carlo Masters and the Canadian Open.
