Stefanos Tsitsipas is back in action again later today, as he faces Casper Ruud for the coveted Monte-Carlo Masters title.
As two top players who are both arguably yet to reach the impossibly high potential that was once expected of them, this marks a fine opportunity to take a huge step towards that lofty goal and hopefully kick on towards achieving even greater honours.
For the Norwegian, a win today would actually be his first in the final of a Masters 1000 event.
However, there was certainly an element of fortune about how his opponent got to this stage, having squeezed past Jannik Sinner in the semi-finals.
Stefanos Tsitsipas on Monte-Carlo Masters umpire call vs Jannik Sinner
Although the first two sets were competitive, as the players went back and forth with hammer blow after hammer blow, it really felt like the entire match hinged on a key flashpoint in the third and deciding set.
With Sinner 3-1 up and at break point on Tsitsipas’ serve, a key incorrect call completely altered the trajectory of the match.
The line judge failed to call a second serve out, and because Sinner didn’t stop, the point continued. He lost it, then the game, and eventually the match, with the Greek tennis star winning four straight games from 4-2 down to reach the final
Now, speaking about the incident immediately after the match, he admitted that it seemed to affect his opponent far more than it did himself.
The 25-year-old claimed: ‘It might have had a bigger influence to my opponent than it had on me. I was dealing with a breakdown at that moment…
‘I think the match would have turned out completely different if that would have been called out. I will agree that it would have been pretty bad for me if that call was made. There are a lot of weird things on clay that we don’t see on other surfaces. One of them is the line calling and sometimes the marking.’
A big year potentially beckons for Stefanos Tsitsipas…
Having largely underwhelmed throughout the opening three months of the new season, this feels like the start of something special for Tsitsipas, in what could now be a big year for him.
After all, with Novak Djokovic somewhat out of sorts, and Carlos Alcaraz’s fitness quite patchy, it does feel like there will be scope for some new winners across the next few big tournaments.
The struggles of the world number one will likely excite him more than anything, given it was the Serbian who defeated him in one of the two Grand Slam finals he has reached.
And with Rafael Nadal another whose injury record could see his clay court season scuppered, whilst Tsitsipas is clearly thriving on his favoured service, there is a huge chance for him to exorcise some demons and do what he has failed to do thus far in his career.
A big year beckons for the world number 12…
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