Stefanos Tsitsipas and the ATP 500 riddle he is yet to solve

Stefanos claimed the ATP Next Gen Finals crown in 2018 and reached the Australian Open semi-final two months later following a stellar victory over Roger Federer.

By the end of that year, Tsitsipas had wins over Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic under his belt, reaching the first Masters 1000 final and claiming the ATP Finals at the end of the season to stand at the top of the tennis world. In 2020, the Greek was the Roland Garros semi-finalist, closing the season with one small title and a couple of proper results in the more important events to maintain his position in the top-6.

The Athens native advanced to his third Major semi-final at the Australian Open this February, losing to Daniil Medvedev and failing to make that extra step and chase a Major glory. After losing in the Acapulco final and the Miami Open quarter-final, Tsitsipas found his A-game on clay, winning the first Masters 1000 crown in Monte Carlo without losing a set and earning a match point against Rafael Nadal in the Barcelona Open final on Sunday.

Nadal saved it to prevail after three hours and 38 minutes, barely beating an in-form rival who will now chase more good results in Madrid and Rome ahead of the season's second Major in Paris.

Despite all these successes, Stefanos still can't find a way to win an ATP 500 title, losing all seven finals so far and hoping to improve that by the end of the season! In Barcelona 2018, Tsitsipas won only three games against the king of clay Rafael Nadal in his first title match at that level. In 2019, Roger Federer defeated Stefanos in the Dubai final in straight sets before Dominic Thiem ousted him in Beijing in October in three sets.

Last year, Stefanos advanced to another Dubai title match, losing it to Novak Djokovic and falling in Hamburg at the end of September to Andrey Rublev despite serving for the victory! In March this year, Alexander Zverev bested the Greek in the Acapulco final in two tight sets, with the seventh straight ATP 500 title match loss coming yesterday to Rafael Nadal in that glorious Barcelona Open encounter that pushed them both to the limits.