Talk about brutal honesty. Goran Ivanisevic didn’t hold back in his scathing assessment of Stefanos Tsitsipas, calling out his player’s lack of preparation and fitness after a disappointing first-round exit at Wimbledon.
The No. 24 seed was trailing 6-3, 6-2 against Valentin Royer on Monday when he was forced to retire due to a flare-up of his lower back injury. Tsitsipas took a medical timeout in the second set but was unable to continue, sending Royer through to the second round. He joined a wave of seeded casualties—23 in total across the men’s and women’s draws in the tournament’s first two days—including Alexander Zverev, Holger Rune and Daniil Medvedev.
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Speaking in his post-match press conference, a despondent Tsitsipas admitted he saw “no point to competing” in his current condition and was “absolutely left with no answers” after trying everything to reverse his slump.
But Ivanisevic, the 2001 Wimbledon champion and Tsitsipas’ recently appointed coach, offered a bluntly different perspective.