“Huge upset” – Boris Becker reacts to Stefanos Tsitsipas crashing out of Madrid Open 2024 with loss to Thiago Monteiro in his opener

Stefanos Tsitsipas faced a shock defeat at the hands of World No. 118 Thiago Monteiro in his opener at the 2024 Madrid Open on Saturday, April 27, inviting a reaction from former World No. 1 Boris Becker.

Tsitsipas entered the men's singles draw in Madrid as the hot favorite after having bagged the trophy at the Monte-Carlo Masters and recording a runner-up finish at the Barcelona Open. However, the Greek's contention at his third European clay event lasted only for an hour and 37 minutes.

He received a bye in the first round as the sixth seed and stepped onto the court for his first match against Thiago Monteiro, who had reached the main draw through qualifiers. And to everyone's surprise, Monteiro inflicted a 6-4, 6-4 loss on Tsitsipas.

The magnitude of his win can be estimated by the fact that Boris Becker talked about it on his X (formerly Twitter) handle.

"Huge upset in Madrid," Becker wrote.

The only time Thiago Monteiro struggled to hold his serve was in his very first attempt at it in the second game of the match as he never looked back after succeeding then. He broke Stefanos Tsitsipas in the third game and went on to hold all his own to secure the opening set straightforwardly.

The Brazilian secured a lead early in the second set by breaking Tsitsipas in the first game and then didn't let the latter stage a comeback, booking his berth in the third round.

During the match, Monteiro hit 24 winners, induced eight unforced errors, and successfully landed 89 percent of his first serves. Also, World No. 7 could only create one break point opportunity, that too in the last game of the match, which Monteiro warded off to claim the win.

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Stefanos Tsitsipas: "I felt out of rhythm the entire match on my returns"

Stefanos Tsitsipas

In his post-match press conference at the 2024 Madrid Open, Stefanos Tsitsipas heaped praise on Thiago Monteiro for the latter's aggression and persistence.

"I had a very good opponent on the other side of the net. He was coming up with great shots and punishing me every single time I played short. I didn't manage to get the depth of the court. He was very aggressive, very persistent. His first-serve percentage was pretty high," Tsitsipas said.

The Greek then regretted his performance admitting to not being able to settle into any sort of rhythm at all.

"I just wish I was able to return the way I did in the last game. I felt out of rhythm the entire match on my returns. I felt very unbalanced and my body was going all over the place," Stefanos Tsitsipas added.

While Tsitsipas will be on his way home after the disappointing result, Thiago Monteiro will prepare for his next challenge in the form of the Czech Republic's Jiri Lehecka.