Was Tsitsipas 39 first serves in a row a record after astonishing feat at Madrid Open

Stefanos Tsitsipas had the impressive statistic of 39 consecutive first serves in his match against Dominic Thiem at the Madrid Open.

Two of the best players over the last 5 years faced each other in the second round of the Madrid Open. Tsitsipas won an incredible match against the former US Open champion 3-6, 6-1, 7-6(5). The Greek player hit 39 consecutive first serves from the end of the first set until the middle of the third set.

"That's fantastic, 39 is a lot," Tsitsipas said afterwards. "That shows that perhaps I improved today on my serve. That's a positive mark for me.

"I think I just owe it all to fluidity and just being relaxed on my serve...I think it's just pure relaxation and focus," Tsitsipas added.

Is it a record within tennis? The Greek player matched the record set in 2002 when Ecuadorian player Nicolás Lapentti hit the same number (39) in his defeat against Karol Kucera at Indian Wells. Kucera was also almost perfect, hitting 40 out of 41 first serves in the match. The Spanish player Albert Montañes holds the record for achieving 50 consecutive first serves in his victory at the 2022 Palermo Open over Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo.

“It took time to adjust, I won’t lie. But I just stayed calm,” said Tsitsipas.

“I had confidence in my tennis, and I knew that bit by bit I would be able to fight back, and my confidence showed in that second set where I was just serving very well, and started finding my rhythm on the returns.

“The third set was just pure fight. He’s not someone who’s going to give up, and he hates even giving the slightest to you in terms of free points. So I knew I was dealing with something big,” concluded world No. 5.