Tsitsipas’ 2022 season ended with a 3-6 6-3 6-3 defeat to Rublev in the last round-robin match of the ATP Finals, with the last spot in the semi-finals on the line. It was a match full of drama as the world No 4 appeared to hit a ball in the direction of his parents as they continued to speak to him from the box, leading to former pro Jim Courier calling for the family to get therapy.
And tensions boiled over after the match as the 24-year-old slammed the world No 8’s ability with a backhanded remark, claiming he felt like the “better player” while Rublev “prevailed with the few tools that he has.” But Tsitsipas has now explained his words as he issued a grovelling apology to the 12-time title winner, admitting he didn’t believe his claims about the Russian’s game.
“I really wanted Andrey to win the next match and my approach was to add fuel to the fire a little bit, to make him want to be more hungry and more concentrated on his next match,” he told Arab News, trying to explain his logic for slating Rublev’s tennis. “I think that was wrong to do, because it felt like, I don’t know, he wasn’t able to perform, I saw the match, I don’t think he performed as good as I would have expected him to perform. That was my only way to finish in the top three if he had won that match.”
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“So if I regret saying that? I do regret saying that, yes. It was not very good for me, I was extremely hurt that I wasn’t able to go all the way at the ATP Finals, it hurt me a lot, I tried to let some bad energy out but that wasn’t the responsible or the good way, even if I wanted something out of it, it wasn’t the right way to do it.
“Definitely if I would see him I would like to apologise to him for thinking like this about him because it’s definitely not how I think about him in reality.” Tsitsipas is set to get his chance to apologise to Rublev this week, with both men taking part on the Diriyah Tennis Cup.
The world No 4 and 8 are part of the 12-man player field at the Saudi Arabia exhibition event which has attracted controversy. The tournament begins on Thursday and also sees the return of Alexander Zverez, while Nick Kyrgios is competing after revealing he got paid “six figures” to play at the exhibition event.