Tsitsipas Sets High Expectations For Himself In Rotterdam

Stefanos Tsitsipas
Stefanos Tsitsipas (photo: Florian Heer)

ROTTERDAM/WASHINGTON, February 3, 2025 (by Michael Dickens)

The first European ATP 500 of the season, the 52nd edition of the ABN Amro Open, began in Rotterdam Monday with few surprises. This year’s field includes former champions Andrey Rublev (2021) Felix Auger-Aliassime (2022) and Daniil Medvedev (2023), who took on 2015 champion Stan Wawrinka in a featured evening match on the first day of the weeklong indoor hardcourt event.

Among those contending for title is crowd favorite World No. 12 Stefanos Tsitsipas, a 2022 finalist at Rotterdam, a major port city in the Dutch province of South Holland that’s also the second-largest city in the Netherlands.

Tsitsipas, who made his ATP Tour debut eight years ago in Rotterdam as a 205th-ranked wild card and lost to Jo-Wilfried Tonga in the first round, has gone on to win four of his 11 ATP Tour titles indoors. Against 138th-ranked qualifier Harold Mayot of France, who turns 23 on Tuesday, the sixth-seeded Tsitsipas spoiled the young Frenchman’s birthday celebration and gave a masterclass by striking 30 winners – including 18 from his forehand – en route to a 6-1, 7-5 victory in an hour and 23 minutes.

It was Mayot’s first encounter against a Top-20 opponent and after losing to Tsitsipas, he’s winless on the ATP Tour since last July at Atlanta. Meanwhile, it was Tsitsipas’ first win of the 2025 season after a disappointing first-round loss to American Alex Michelsen at the Australian Open last month.

“My mission was to play my best game and to deliver to the expectations I set before entering the court, and those were pretty high,” Tsitsipas said in an on-court interview with ATP Media following his first meeting against the former No. 1 junior Mayot. The victory improved his career win-loss record in Rotterdam to 10-6.

“I’m more than happy that I delivered on those promises. I think my game in the first set looked fantastic,” Tsitsipas added. “I was immediately attacking whenever the short one was coming in my way.

“Getting to play the same type of quality and level of game in the second set, I felt he had answers to those big shots that I was coming up with. I also felt like him trying to hit the ball more away from me. I started building a new dynamic in the matchup. I felt like he upgraded his level in the second set – I wish I could have done something better – but I just had to wait and seize the opportunity.”

Tsitsipas, idle since his four-set loss to Michelsen in Melbourne, dropped just four points on his first serve against Mayot. He faced no break points and converted three of 13 break points. Tsitsipas outpointed his opponent 71-49. Next, he will  face either No, 33 Matteo Berrettini of Italy or No. 43 Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands, who play Wednesday.

Around the Rotterdam Ahoy

Carlos Alcaraz of Spain, currently ranked No. 3 in the PIF ATP Rankings, is the top seed (following last week’s withdrawal of World No. 1 Jannik Sinner) and looks for his first indoor ATP Tour title while attempting to become the first Spanish champion in tournament history. He will open Tuesday against a familiar foe, 84th-ranked wild card Botic van de Zandschulp of the Netherlands, whom he lost to in the second round of last year’s US Open.

In the meantime, three Top-25 stars were in action on opening day – No. 7 Medvedev, No. 12 Tsitsipas and No. 21 Hubert Hurkacz – as well as the 39-year-old wild card Wawrinka, who besides winning the Dutch title in 2015 reached the final in 2019.

The Swiss great, oldest player in the draw, returned for his seventh appearance in Rotterdam ranked 155th. He drew No. 2 seed Medvedev from Russia as his opening-round opponent and they were featured on Centre Court inside Rotterdam Ahoy Monday evening. Although Wawrinka eked out a first-set tie break – and for a while turned back the years – ultimately, he ran out of energy and Medvedev prevailed 6-7 (8), 6-4, 6-1, in two hours and 27 minutes of entertaining tennis.

“To be honest, it was pretty bad from my side, the first set. In general, it was a good level. When you have some confidence, you win some sets which you should lose. When you don’t have the confidence, you lose some sets which you should win,” Medvedev said during his on-court interview with ATP Media. “I was like ‘I’m not playing so bad at the moment’, so if I continued to push and try to play better it could work out, and I am happy that it did. Hopefully I can play better and better in the next matches.”

Medvedev hit 24 winners – including nine from his forehand – and converted six of 11 break-point chances to prevail. He outpointed Wawrinka 107-87 to record his sixth straight Rotterdam victory going back to his 2023 title run. Medvedev has now beaten Wawrinka three times in their five career meetings.

During his on-court interview, Medvedev gave props to Wawrinka. He said: “He played good, but it’s Stan, he always plays good. Of course, he is not at his peak when he was winning Grand Slams. I never played him when he was at this level, and it’s a pity because I would love it as a challenge. I am pretty sure there would be some matches where he would chop me, and somewhere I would fight. Stan is also an amazing guy. … In my opinion, he is one of the humblest, nicest guys on Tour.”

As Medvedev, 28, seeks his first title since winning the 2023 Masters 1000 in Rome, he’s also biding to win an ATP Tour title at the same event for the first time in his career. In the second round, Medvedev will face 92nd-ranked qualifier Mattia Bellucci of Italy, who spoiled the ATP debut of 839th-ranked Dutch wild card Mees Röttgering, just 17 but currently the World No. 1 junior player, 6-3, 6-2, in an hour and 42 minutes. Bellucci hit 21 overall winners – including 10 aces – and broke his opponent’s serve four times in nine opportunities. He outpointed Röttgering 74-55.

Other Monday highlights:

• Hurkacz advanced to the second round for the fifth straight year in Rotterdam after defeating No. 35 Flavio Cobolli of Italy, 6-3, 6-2, in an hour and 17 minutes. Playing in his first match ranked outside the Top 20 for the first time since April 2021, after 199 consecutive weeks, the Polish No. 1 took control early in both sets and capitalized on each of his three break-point conversions. He won 85 percent of his first-serve points, dropping just three points on his first serve, and outpointed Cobolli 61-42. Next, Hurkacz (4-4 in 2025) will face either No. 24 Jiri Lehecka of Czechia or No. 26 Alexei Popyrin of Australia, who play Tuesday.

• Monday’s order of play also included a couple of first-round doubles matches, one involving German qualifiers Jakob Schnaitter and Mark Wallner. A week ago, they lost their first-round match at Montpellier against No. 3 seeds Ivan Dodig of Croatia and Yuki Bhambri of India, decided by a match tie-break. This week, after winning a pair of qualifying draw matches, they opened against Adam Pavlasek of the Czech Republic and Jean-Julien Rojer of the Netherlands and won, 6-3, 4-6, 10-8, to advance to the quarterfinal round.

The other featured Dutch wild cards Tallon Griekspoor and Botic van de Zandschulp, who just a day earlier were on opposing sides of the net in the Open Occitanie final. On Monday, they paired up against No. 2 seeds Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz of Germany and lost 6-3, 7-6 (5) in an hour and 38 minutes.

Monday’s Rotterdam results

Tuesday’s Rotterdam order of play

By the numbers

No. 7 seed Arthur Fils of France led the ATP Tour with 17 500-series wins last year, highlighted by titles won in Hamburg
and Tokyo. This week, the 20-year-old Frenchman will attempt to become the youngest champion in tournament history.

“Quotable …”

“Jannik is the best right now. He has lost only four or five matches in the past year, so it is crazy. I know people say who’s better out of us. They say Jannik is better or some say me. It is all discussion.

“But for me, I think for a tennis player, we have to face Jannik and he is winning everything he is playing. He is focused every time, so I think he is the best. Every tournament he plays, he makes the final or lifts the trophy.”

– World No. 3 and Rotterdam top seed Carlos Alcaraz of Spain, during his pre-tournament new conference on Sunday, in praise of Jannik Sinner.

 

 

Search

Brigitte Urban
Tennis photographer
camera lens

International Blogs

Florian Heer

Meanwhile in Germany…. Internationale Tennis-Saison in Deutschland eröffnet

January 27, 2025

Dietmar Kaspar

Schwaben Open kehren 2025 in die bayerischen Sommerferien zurück

December 16, 2024

Podcast

Categories