Stefanos Tsitsipas has taken it upon himself to clarify his comments about not playing ATP events in South America.
Tsitsipas stated that he has never received good offers to play in South America, which recently played host to ATP tournaments in Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro and Santiago.
Instead, he played at the Qatar Open and the Dubai Tennis Championships, where he lost in the quarterfinals and round of 32 respectively.
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Stefanos Tsitsipas clarifies comments on not playing in South America
Tsitsipas has now clarified his comments on social media after they sparked controversy in the tennis world, with his ATP rival Francisco Cerundolo among those left unimpressed.
The Greek player wrote on his Instagram story: “Over the last days, I’ve seen a lot of discussion around comments I made about scheduling tournaments and appearance fees, so I want to clarify things in a simple and honest way.
“First of all, I truly enjoy playing in South America. The passion of the fans there is special, and I have a lot of respect for the tournaments and the culture around tennis in that region. My comments were never a complaint and never meant as criticism.
“On the ATP tour, players outside of prize money have very limited ways to support their careers financially.
“The reality is that ATP 250 and ATP 500 events are often the only opportunities where appearance fees exist.
“Because of that, scheduling decisions are sometimes influenced by those factors. This is not unique to me.
“It is a standard model followed by many players, especially those competing at the top level. I was simply answering a question about why my calendar sometimes looks the way it does.
“I was explaining something that is common knowledge inside professional tennis, not expressing negativity toward any country or tournament.
“I have great appreciation for every place I compete in and I hope to play in many different regions of the world in the future as well.”
Stefanos Tsitsipas suffers huge rankings drop ahead of Indian Wells
Tsitsipas’ comments certainly didn’t go down well with many, although he does deserve some form of credit for speaking openly about the situation.
It remains to be seen how he would have performed had he ventured to the region, but it doesn’t seem that he will play there anytime soon following his latest verdict, and indeed the upset it will have caused for many there.
Incidentally, Tsitsipas is in desperate need of a strong run of form, having suffered a disastrous fall of late.
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The two-time Grand Slam finalist has had his injury struggles in recent times, but even he would not have imagined such a decline.
Having once climbed as high as number three in the ATP rankings, Tsitsipas has just fallen a huge 13 places to 43rd.
Still, the 27-year-old has a 9-5 record for the 2026 season, and is a 12-time ATP champion, with hope surely remaining that he can soon get back to his best.
| Year | Titles | Tournaments |
| 2025 | 1 | Dubai (Outdoor/Hard) |
| 2024 | 1 | ATP Masters 1000 Monte-Carlo (Outdoor/Clay) |
| 2023 | 1 | Los Cabos (Outdoor/Hard) |
| 2022 | 2 | Mallorca (Outdoor/Grass) ATP Masters 1000 Monte-Carlo (Outdoor/Clay) |
| 2021 | 2 | Lyon (Outdoor/Clay) ATP Masters 1000 Monte-Carlo (Outdoor/Clay) |
| 2020 | 1 | Marseille (Indoor/Hard) |
| 2019 | 3 | Nitto ATP Finals (Indoor/Hard) Estoril (Outdoor/Clay) Marseille (Indoor/Hard) |
| 2018 | 1 | Stockholm (Indoor/Hard) |
Tsitsipas was hoping to defend his title in Dubai last week, but he lost his opening match against Ugo Humbert.
His focus now turns to Indian Wells in California, where the 27-year-old will be very eager for a lengthy stay.
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