Greek tennis star Stefanos Tsitsipas lost his cool during the ATP Cup match against Australia’s Nick Kyrgios on Tuesday. In one of the bizarre on-court moments, Tsitsipas was seen smashing his racquet on the chair where his father and coach, Apostolos Tsitsipas was sitting. The incident came just after the World No. 7 was edged out in the tiebreaker of the first set. But in his anger, Tsitsipas accidentally chipped his father’s arm.
The Greek wildly swung his racquet in frustration and twice on the chair, and in the second attempt, it struck his father. His father moved away to protect himself, mouthing words to his son, while Tsitsipas continued to smash his racquet. He eventually sat down in disappointment, but the scene turned even more bizarre.
Tsitsipas’ mother, who was sitting in the crowd, came to his son and started scolding him for his behaviour. His mother was seen giving her son a slew of angry words before walking off.
{{/usCountry}}Tsitsipas’ mother, who was sitting in the crowd, came to his son and started scolding him for his behaviour. His mother was seen giving her son a slew of angry words before walking off.
{{/usCountry}}The tennis star remained frustrated throughout the game, and was later seen hitting the ball at his team, which cost him a penalty point.
Meanwhile, Canadian Denis Shapovalov picked up his second win against a top-10 player at the ATP Cup team event on Tuesday with a 6-2 6-2 thumping of Alexander Zverev as the German continued to struggle with his serve ahead of this month’s Australian Open. Shapovalov, 20, needed just 70 minutes to brush aside world number seven Zverev, who lost his third straight singles before the year’s first Grand Slam starting in Melbourne on Jan. 20.
Zverev, the 2018 ATP Finals champion, served seven double faults against Shapovalov to take his total for the tournament to 31. “There’s a lot of things that I still need to improve, but it’s the start of the season,” Zverev said. “I need to find my rhythm.”