Tsitsipas Completes First Full Year In Top 10 Of FedEx ATP Rankings

Stefanos Tsitsipas has completed 52 consecutive weeks in the Top 10 of the FedEx ATP Rankings, having first risen into the elite on 4 March 2019 (at No. 10). The Greek, who is currently No. 6, attained a career-high No. 5 on 5 August last year.

Aged 21 years and six months, Tsitsipas has spent a first full year in the Top 10 at a younger age than two former World No. 1s Andy Murray (22 years, 52 days) and Roger Federer (22 years, 66 days). Rafael Nadal, who won 15 of his 85 tour-level titles as a teenager, completed 52 weeks in the Top 10 at 19 years and 325 days, while current World No. 1 Novak Djokovic, who beat Tsitsipas in last week’s Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships final, was 20 years and 307 days. Alexander Zverev was just 102 days younger than Tsitsipas – at 21 years and 101 days – when he finished 52 weeks in the Top 10.

As Tsitsipas looks to further extend his time in the Top 10, he’s is not looking to burden himself about what’s he’s achieved in the past. “I’m sort of in a mindset where I don’t really think of defending [points],” he said. “I’m thinking more of the [FedEx] ATP Race [To London, the year-to-date standings] and making it to the Nitto ATP Finals at the end of the year.

“Scheduling is very important when you have your time off, when you practise. My schedule this year is quite different from last year’s. I’m going to try to focus more on 500 events, Masters 1000s, Grand Slams.”

Over the past 52 weeks, Tsitsipas has compiled a 49-25 match record, including three titles at the Nitto ATP Finals (d. Thiem) in November 2019 and two ATP 250-level events: the 2019 Millennium Estoril Open (d. Cuevas) and Open 13 Provence in Marseille (d. Auger-Aliassime) last month. Additionally, he was runner-up at the Mutua Madrid Open (l. to Djokovic), an ATP Masters 1000 tournament, and two ATP 500-level events: the 2019 China Open in Beijing (l. to Thiem) and Dubai.

Djokovic was full of praise for Tsitsipas after beating him in the Dubai final, saying, “I love the fact that he is more than just tennis player and he’s always looking to learn from the experience and to understand something new about himself so he can improve, get better. That for me is a trait of a champion, of someone that for sure has a great potential to be No. 1 of the world and win Grand Slams and be a great ambassador of our sport. He already is, but he has a great future ahead of him, I’m sure.”

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