"My grandmother passed away 15 minutes before" - Stefanos Tsitsipas reveals heartbreaking story behind Novak Djokovic French Open loss

Stefanos Tsitsipas recently revisited being made aware of his grandmother's passing in the aftermath of his heartbreak in the men's singles final of the 2021 French Open. The match marked Tsitsipas' maiden final outing at a Major and after the first two sets, it seemed as if the Greek was in the perfect position to go on and clinch the title.

However, his legendary opponent on the day, Novak Djokovic, had other ideas. The Serb showed incredible fighting spirit as he valiantly recovered and ultimately registered a 6-7(6), 2-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 comeback victory to win his 19th Grand Slam title.

Recently, Stefanos Tsitsipas and his girlfriend Paula Badosa featured as guests on Tennis Channel's "Prakash in Primetime". Here, host Prakash Amritraj asked the Greek and the Spaniard about the heartbreaks they have experienced as individuals. When it was the former ATP No. 3's turn to answer, he recalled how the day of the 2021 French Open final unfolded for him. Tsitsipas said:

"Heartbreak is necessary. I've experienced heartbreak on the tennis court for the sport that I love the most. I experienced a big heartbreak, not many years ago actually, at (Court Philippe) Chatrier, losing to Novak Djokovic after being two-sets-to-love up, and that was heartbreaking. It was a difficult moment for me because I had a bad feeling the moment I entered the match, and I didn't know what it was exactly."

Later, the 12-time ATP Tour-level singles titlist disclosed that a few hours after his loss to Novak Djokovic, his father Apostolos told him about his grandmother's passing. As it turned out, Tsitsipas's grandmother had tragically passed away 15 minutes before the Greek took to Roland Garros' iconic Court Phillipe-Chatrier to contest the final. The current ATP No. 26, who was very close to his grandmother, added:

"Few hours after the final, obviously I was very emotional that I wasn't able to close it out, win my first Grand Slam title. My father came to me in my room after coming back from the site and announced to me that my grandmother, the closest to me in our family, passed away 15 minutes before my first Grand Slam final, which was crazy, because I could tell in that moment that something was happening. I could feel it within me that something is a little bit off."

Earlier this year, Tsitsipas rated the 2021 French Open final as his hardest heartbreak in tennis.

Stefanos Tsitsipas laid bare dejection about French Open 2021 misfortune while lamenting exit from this year's Monte-Carlo Masters

Stefanos Tsitsipas (Source: Getty)

At the 2025 Monte-Carlo Masters, Stefanos Tsitsipas was the defending champion. However, the Greek's hopes at the claycourt Masters 1000 event were dashed in the quarterfinals by Lorenzo Musetti, with the Italian sensationally recovering from a 6-1 first-set hammering.

The Greek later claimed that the loss to Musetti was the second-hardest heartbreak for him to deal with in recent years following his 2021 French Open disappointment. At a pre-tournament press conference at the Barcelona Open, Tsitsipas said:

"It must have been one of the hardest defeats I've had in the last 2-3 years. I would say the second hardest after the defeat to Djokovic at Roland Garros. It affected me and hurt me a lot. I hope that the mistakes I made in the match are not repeated, that I learn from this defeat and if I feel that there is a similar situation again in the coming weeks of the clay season, that I can find better ways to manage this difficulty that I had to face."

Stefanos Tsitsipas' most recent on-court outing marked yet another disappointment for the Greek. It was a shocking second-round loss to qualifier Matteo Gigante at this year's French Open.