"I was not good enough": Tsitsipas refuses to blame US Open loss on team with absence of father Apostolos

Stefanos Tsitsipas avoided blaming the changes in his team for his early exit at the US Open against Dominik Stricker.

The Greek player has had a disappointing summer in North American tournaments over the past few weeks. While he secured the ATP 250 Los Cabos Open title, his performance didn't carry over to the major tournaments.

He exited in the second round of the Canadian Open and was eliminated in the round of 16 in Cincinnati. This week at Flushing Meadows, despite a strong opening victory against Milos Raonic, he faced young Dominik Stricker in the second round, who handed him a 7-5, 6-7(2), 6-7(5), 7-6(6), 6-3 result.

Tsitsipas spoke after the match, taking responsibility for the poor results and refraining from placing blame on the team changes that occurred, following the departure of his father, Apostolos, from the coaching team:

"By no means I'm supposed to put any blame on any people or any members of my team. Everything on court is under my control and under my talents, and the way I can play this sport are shown out on the court. If I'm not able to deliver, then I'm not supposed to be doing well," Tsitsipas said.

"That's what happened this summer. I was not good enough to deliver and score good results. I won't blame it on anything. It's just poor performance after Los Cabos. Had a tough transition to Toronto, where I dealt with really bad jet lag that I never had such kind of experience on tour," he added.

The World No. 7 congratulated his 21-year-old opponent, Dominik Stricker, the World No. 128, who achieved the biggest victory of his career:

"My opponent showed better tennis than I did," he said.

"I want to congratulate him, because, you know, I consider myself a good player, and I don't want to be a person that can be beaten easily or I'm giving my opponents easy time on the court against me. I try to make it as hard as I can, and if it doesn't work, it doesn't work. I move on with my life. Hopefully I can get better in the future."