Inside the Mind of Tsitsipas: Talking In-Match Intentions

Stefanos Tsitsipas was once one of the best players in the world once upon a time, especially between the years of 2019-2023, but then suffered a gradual loss of confidence, injuries, turbulence outside of the court amongst other things. But despite all of this his intentions and what he wants to achieve on a tennis court has stayed the same. It has always been a case of executing the good things better and managing the areas of concern to a point where his basement level is not truly in the basement.

Now when Tsitsipas absolutely routinely beats Kazakh legend Mikhail Kukushkin with the loss of just three games you may ask how can you extensively dissect that encounter to a considerable amount of detail, but you can. In this piece I will aim to get inside the mind of Tsitsipas and point out why he is looking for certain things in matches like the one versus Kukushkin, not only out of relevance of who he is facing but generally what the Greek is trying to maximise. Then provide more detail on why he is looking for those things to take shape during a match.

Now here in the above clip you will see the Kazakh play his fourth service point of the match so it is early doors in regard to how this match unravels. But in this point Stefanos already has some intel that his backhand return of serve weakness is not going to be a considerable weakness in this matchup. In other words he is going to able to get a lot in play and work his way into a baseline duel in some form more often than not. That is one less thing for Tsitsipas to worry about and even this early into the match he now knows enough. He knows that it is his win if he executes his fundamentals. He gets in the point here, never going to be overwhelmed by anything the Kazakh offers to start the point and tennis-wise he has won. Then the psychological side has to follow. This time it does.

The second clip below shows Tsitsipas' decision to already get the backhand slice out of his locker. Now it may seem irrelevant just two games into an easy win, but it is relevant as to working out what he is processing point by point. Tsitsipas rarely gets the backhand slice out at all, mainly because he does not have one. A big reason why he has come unstuck in certain match-ups where his regular backhand gets exposed in a multitude of ways. In this clip he introduces the backhand slice simply because he can. He is under no threat so he may as well just experiment and go with it. Backhand slices in general off a flat ball can be utilised as a way of buying yourself time, taking the sting out of the shot coming your way but in this scenario it is neither. Kukushkin hits a flat ball but it is not a fearful powerful type of shot.

In my opinion Stefanos allows this to happen because he is comfortable with where he is in the match and where the match will eventually travel. He is not concerned by the awkwardness that Kukushkin brings whatsoever even at this stage. Kukushkin eventually breaks down with one of many errors.

The next part really is about illustrating what Tsitsipas looks to search for on a tennis court regardless of opposition, conditions or period of the season. During this point, the Greek is entangled in a long-term cross-court backhand to backhand trade with someone who loves that pattern and it is probably Kukushkin's predominant pattern historically. This is due to the solidity of that groundstroke and the effectiveness it is in comparison to the forehand of extremely low trajectory in general.

The reason Tsitsipas plays a point that feels like it is on the Kazakh's terms is because the match is won in his mind so why not? But also he already has enough information to determine that he is not going to be making a lot unsettled errors in this pattern and he will still have enough time to do what he does next. This is trademark Stefanos. Bide your time, then when the opportunity presents itself, dictate with the forehand out of his backhand corner.

It is a perfectly constructed point from Tsitsipas in terms of recognising which backhand was the better backhand in terms of both width and potency that enables him to shift to the left and go from a neutral point to his point for the taking. This happened a lot in this match.

I have underlind the position in which Stef desires and also his ability to go either way quite comfortably, which makes it extremely hard for Kukushkin to prioritise his next move. The quality of Stefanos' forehand at his best is devastating.

The last bit of coverage is basically emphasising the statement that Tsitsipas could do what he liked and when he liked with Kukushkin. For a game that is pretty simplistic in terms of serve/forehand collective, Tsitsipas was exploring other options alongside that out of comfort. Below he has his pattern priority in terms of an inside-in forehand with time, but does not unload with a great deal of venom. Then as the point takes place you then realise why he didn't. The reason is because he could recycle the point, hits a defensive backhand slice to regroup and reestablish himself ready for the next quality forehand that he creates a winner off.

Also Kukushkin is a classic case of a profile of player that enjoys absorbing heavy pace coming at him and using your pace against you through amazing counter-punching capability. He has some of the shortest backswings of all on tour and Tsitsipas was likely also respectful of picking his moments in terms of how much pace he gives him.

He was so at ease that the first forehand was not vital because he knew another one could materialise anyway.

Average rally length on serve for him was just the two shots which means the serve was giving him a platform to overwhelm with his weaponry/forehand pretty much all the time. In contrast for Kukushkin he was forced to engage from the back, which further shows that Tsitsipas's returning was not a problem and he could reel him in in some capacity eventually.

A great performance from Tsitsipas between the ears. Now let's see if he can finish this season in a strong way.