Former World No.9 Petkovic believes change is need in Tsitsipas' approach: "Stagnated over the last year in his game"

Former tennis player Andrea Petkovic expressed her opinion that Stefanos Tsitsipas needs to make changes in his game as he has plateaued in the past year.

The retired German, who left the sport in 2022, took part in the Tennis Channel's Inside-In podcast and analyzed the current situation of the Greek player and his performance in the ongoing year.

Tsitsipas entered the top-10 in March 2019 and has maintained a prominent position, reaching as high as world No. 3 in the rankings. At 24 years old, he remains one of the top players in the world with a 2023 record of 39-14. However, he has yet to make a breakthrough in winning a Grand Slam title:

“I do feel Tsitsipas needs a change in his – I don’t know if it’s in his coaching team, or if he just has to give a little bit more power to Mark Philippoussis, who is now back in the team,” said Andrea Petkovic on Tennis Channel.

“It’s just, he has stagnated over the last year in his game and I know that he wants to play well. And he has really one of the best forehands I have ever seen in my entire life.

“Not only the way he hits it and how he can generate pace and spin and rotation, but also how quickly he runs up to the ball when he does have a short ball – [that has] really never been seen before I think. Maybe Roger [Federer] can do it the same way," she added.

“So I really hope that he evolves the other side of his game. Maybe incorporates the slice a bit more – like Roger used to do – so he gets the time to run around and use his forehand," formr world No. 9 claimed.

World No. 4 Tsitsipas was the champion last week at the Los Cabos Open, but he had a disappointing exit from the Canadian Open in the first round against Gael Monfils this week. Starting from Wednesday, he will begin his campaign at the Cincinnati Open.

Tsitsipas received a bye in the first round as the fourth seed and awaits the winner of the match between Ben Shelton and Christopher Eubanks. It was Eubanks who surprisingly eliminated Tsitsipas in the round of 16 at the previous Wimbledon.

In addition, the Greek player surprised by entering the doubles main draw, where he will partner with Alejandro Davidovich Fokina. Their debut match is scheduled for Monday against Marcelo Arevalo and Jean-Julien Rojer.