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Stefanos Tsitsipas left the entire tennis world in shock this week when he announced his split with Goran Ivanisevic after just two months working together. The Greek is reportedly planning to reunite with his father Apostolos, with whom he shares a tumultuous on-court relationship to say the least.
Ivanisevic last enjoyed a proper tenure with Novak Djokovic, guiding him to nine Major titles and three year-end World No. 1 finishes. The Croat has since been through short stints with Elena Rybakina and, more recently, Tsitsipas.
Although the World No. 29's coaching situation currently looks dire, there is furore amongst his fans surrounding his father potentially returning to his team. Below, we list down a few reasons why the Tsitsipas family's re-union shouldn't happen:
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#1 Stefanos Tsitsipas has openly criticized his father Apostolos' ability as coach
Goran Ivanisevic's negative comments about Stefanos Tsitsipas' motivation and work ethic invited controversy last month. The 2001 Wimbledon champion went as far as to suggest that he, at the age of 53, was in "thrice better shape" than his ward.
"The desire is there, but he does nothing to improve things," Goran Ivanisevic told Sport Klub in June 2025. "At my age and with the state of my knee, I'm in thrice better shape than him. I'm not sure what he has done in the previous 12 months, but his current shape is very poor."
While it is natural to assume Tsitsipas' side in this fiasco if he took Ivanisevic's comments in bad taste, he put his own father on blast in a similar fashion nearly two years ago. Following a second-round exit at the Cincinnati Masters, the 27-year-old went on a full-fledged rant about how Apostolos, his coach back then, had failed to meet the mark as a coach.
"I need and I deserve a coach that listens to me and hears my feedback as a player," Tsitsipas told the media at Cincinnati Masters 2023. "My father hasn't been very smart or very good at handling those situations, it's not the first time he has done that. I'm really disappointed at him."
Stefanos Tsitsipas and his father still share a close father-son bond if the Greek's more recent comments are anything to go by. Yet, the above comments imply that some level of distrust may exist in their professional relationship.
#2 Stefanos Tsitsipas' game has consistently regressed in the last few years
Stefanos Tsitsipas made a name for himself and his country after making his big tournament breakthrough with a semifinal result at the 2019 Australian Open. Many impressive feats fell at the 12-time ATP singles titlist's feet in the coming years, like defeating the famed 'Big 3' before turning 21, winning the year-end championships, and reaching the final of two Majors.
However, Tsitsipas' game has been trending downwards since 2022, which ultimately caused him to exit the men's top 20 for the first time since 2018 earlier this year. The former World No. 3's return, and especially backhand return, has been his weakness for some years now. So much so that he has only broken serve at a rate of 17.6% in his ATP Tour matches in the last 52 weeks.
The Greek has also become relatively underwhelming on his two strongest suits - forehand and serve. As opposed to 2022 and 2023, which saw the 27-year-old occupy top positions in the ATP's serve leaderboards, he is at a lowly 23rd (as of data updated until July 21). Most devout fans would therefore agree that his game needs re-tuning under the eyes of an experienced coach, and not Apostolos, who was his main coach for a large part of his youth.
Stefanos Tsitsipas has often expressed a desire to be one of the greatest champions in men's tennis history. The World No. 29 has failed to walk the talk though, raising an important question: Does he have what it takes to dominate the game? Whether he can get back inside the ATP top 10 rankings anytime soon remains to be seen. What he can do is start building a blueprint for success immediately, and unfortunately, his father doesn't belong in those plans.
