Twelve months ago, Stefanos Tsitsipas cut a dejected and slightly distressed figure as he slumped into his Wimbledon press conference, "left with no answers", after retiring in the first round.
It was a sobering moment that raised questions about his physical condition and even prompted the Greek to contemplate retirement. Fast forward to his return to the All England Club in 2026, and the mood could hardly be more different. Tsitsipas breezed through his opening-round match and looks to be playing once again with the conviction and joy that carried him to a career-high No. 3 in the PIF ATP Rankings.
“I'm missing the way I have been playing the last couple of years and today, while I was on the court, I was thinking of the great fights that I have had previously at Wimbledon, playing some years back,” Tsitsipas said after his straight-sets win over Hugo Gaston on Monday.
“Regardless of the result, I always felt like I was coming into this tournament with a lot of determination, with a lot of love for the grass, and always played my best that I knew at the time.”
After a stretch of injuries and inconsistent results, Tsitsipas now finds himself at World No. 87, his lowest ranking since January 2018. The former Top-10 mainstay will next get the ultimate measuring stick when he takes on seven-time Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic on Wednesday at Wimbledon.
Tsitsipas’ commanding victory over Gaston was a reminder of just how dangerous the Greek can be on the slick lawns of the All England Club. He reached the boys' semi-finals as a junior in 2016 before producing memorable five-set victories over Dominic Thiem and Andy Murray during his run to the fourth round in 2023.
“Today's match was a little bit of a throwback mentally of how I started this journey playing at Wimbledon, playing at juniors, and trying to go far,” Tsitsipas continued. “I produced some really good tennis.
“I was trying to revisit some of my qualities and some of the ways I have been thinking and doing certain things from the past, and tried to apply those in a structural, well-mannered way in today's match. So I'm just going to continue doing that and see where that brings me.”
Stefanos Tsitsipas defeats Andy Murray over two days at Wimbledon in 2023. Photo: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images.
Through all the setbacks — including a 2-4 record at major tournaments last season while he battled serious back pain — Tsitsipas has continued to push forward for one simple reason: his love for the game. The 27-year-old, who burst onto the scene in 2018 before winning the Nitto ATP Finals on debut the following year, has had to look inward to rediscover that sense of peace.
“My love for the game. I love this game,” Tsitsipas responded, when asked about what keeps him going. “I have had some rough moments through this game with some injuries that I would have never seen coming. I never imagined as a small, little kid that I would be going through life-changing injuries, to be honest, injuries that made me suffer a lot.
“I had to have surgeries because of those injuries. I was hospitalised a few times. It's all part of the process. I have accepted I'm not the only one. Other people have gone through the same. I lost my path and route at a certain moment in the past.”
The question now is whether Tsitsipas has rediscovered that path in time for one of the toughest tests in tennis.
On Wednesday, he will meet Djokovic on Centre Court for the 15th chapter of their Lexus ATP Head2Head rivalry. Tsitsipas has won just two of their previous 14 meetings, but he can draw confidence from some of the fierce contests they have shared, none more so than the 2021 Roland Garros final, when Djokovic recovered from two sets down to complete a remarkable comeback.
Following his opening-round win over Gaston on Court 16, Tsitsipas also offered a candid assessment of how he has approached his game in recent years. He is 17-14 this season, according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index, but believes constantly searching for change may not be the right formula for a player who owns 12 ATP Tour titles and has reached two major finals.
“I feel like I have been constantly chasing change and improvement in my game,” Tsitsipas explained. “I feel like sometimes it is not part of my personality. It just doesn't belong to me, even though my coaches or the people around me want me to go towards that other route, a good change that they assess and they think is important for me, it seems to take time to adjust.
“Of course [there is] pressure, we all know that has caused some anxiety from the past, stress, and all of it has been sitting really heavily on my shoulders. I think it all comes down to enjoying the game, not looking too far away to see if there are going to be any victories or wins. Just actually focusing on each and every game that you get to play out there.”
Whether that renewed mindset is enough to topple Djokovic remains to be seen, but Tsitsipas will arrive on Centre Court believing he has found something that had been missing.
© Copyright 1994 - 2026 ATP Tour, Inc. All Rights Reserved. No part of this site may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any way or by any means (including photocopying, recording or storing it in any medium by electronic means), without the written permission of ATP Tour, Inc.. Terms & Conditions | Privacy | Community Social Media Policy | Modern Slavery Statement | Feedback | Cookies | Your Privacy Choices 
