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Tennis star Stefanos Tsitsipas suffered a shocking first-round exit from the 2025 Australian Open on January 13. The Greece-born star suffered defeat against 20-year-old Alex Michelsen by 5-7, 6-3, 2-6, and 4-6 in a game lasting for two hours and 43 minutes of gameplay at the John Cain Arena in Melbourne Park.
Notably, the Australian Open has traditionally been a most successful tournament for the star player, with Tsitsipas having made it to the three-time semifinals in the history of the tournament before making it to the final in 2023. However, explaining his crushing defeat, the first and big upset of the 2025 Australian Open, the 2023 finalist attributed it to a lack of match practice in a new season.
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Stefanos Tsitsipas reflects on shocking loss in opening-thriller!
The world number 12 had withdrawn from the doubles competition, where he was scheduled to play with his brother Petros Tsitsipas in a bid to conserve energy for the singles event. The 26-year-old tennis player acknowledged the decision to forgo doubles backfired on him.
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After his loss at Australian Open, Stefanos Tsitsipas says he feels like he’s a better player today than he was a few years ago, even though he‘s losing more now
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) January 13, 2025
Casper mentioned in November that he felt like sort of the game had changed, and he had to make some big changes in… pic.twitter.com/pu9awnBuos
“It’s quite ironic. My whole idea was to try to go deep into the Australian Open. I knew the first thing I had to consider was not playing doubles. I guess karma hit me. I was not able to deliver or play the way I had hoped to at this year's event. The whole purpose was to conserve energy and be fresher for the later stages of the tournament.The most frustrating part about losing in the first round of a Grand Slam is having too much time to recover,” Tsitsipas said after his defeat.