Stefanos Tsitsipas has been in fine form at this year’s United Cup.
The Greek star played a starring role in the group stages, winning two singles matches.
Tsitsipas beat Shintaro Mochizuki and Billy Harris, as Greece qualified for the quarterfinals, where they will play the United States.
His importance to Team Greece is not limited to his performances on the court, however, as Tsitsipas provided invaluable advice on the bench during Maria Sakkari’s win over Emma Raducanu.
During his post-match press conference, Tsitsipas was asked for his thoughts on coaching, having helped his teammate secure the win.
Stefanos Tsitsipas says coaching is more than just ‘giving tactics’
“I think it fits my creativity,” he said.
“It’s one thing playing tennis, it’s another thing seeing it from the outside. It feels different.
“It’s always so much easier when you watch it from outside. You know what I mean?
“It’s so much easier to give directions, tell someone to do that, do that. It’s a very psychological sport, so you have to understand what the player is feeling, their emotions, what they’re going through. It’s not always giving tactics.
“Tactics are not always going to be working or reliable.”
Tsitsipas didn’t want to dwell on his brief foray into coaching for long, though, as he wanted the focus to stay on Sakkari, who continues to impress Down Under.
“I don’t want to talk about coaching. As a player, I get Maria’s feelings, and I can correlate to the emotions and what you’re going through. I’m just trying to navigate them as smoothly as I possibly can,” he said.
“She really showed incredible tennis today, a lot of improvements she has made to her game. My whole attention and focus was on how we can maximize the shots.
“The shots are there. She has those shots.
“How can we utilize those to take them to the maximum.
“She actually did that with brave tennis.”
Tsitsipas will hope she shows more of that brave tennis in the quarterfinals.
Who plays who in the United Cup quarterfinals?
Three of the four United Cup quarterfinal matchups have been finalised, with the other all but confirmed.
Australia will play Poland in their quarterfinal match, provided the Pole’s win at least a set in their final group game against the Netherlands.
If they fail to do so, Germany will advance to take on the Australians.
Greece will play the defending champions, Team USA, in what promises to be a thrilling clash.
Stan Wawrinka’s Switzerland will take on Argentina, before Czechia play Belgium.
Only time will tell who will win the 2026 United Cup, but you certainly won’t want to miss any of the action.
Greece will play the USA in the first quarterfinal tie on Wednesday, January 7.
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