Stefanos Tsitsipas driving licence suspended after caught speeding at 210 km/h in Greece

It seems to be going from bad to worse for Stefanos Tsitsipas. After his tennis career seems to be going off the rails slightly, the Greek number one has come afoul of the law. He was caught driving at an astonishing 210km/h in a 120km/h zone and subsequently has received a fine and one-year license suspension.

He was driving along the Attiki Odos, a motorway in his native Greece, in his luxury Lotus car. His speed was caught by the new speed cameras implemented along the roads, with Greece looking to clamp down on road safety and traffic accidents. 10 cameras have been put up around the country on major roads. Tsitsipas was caught speeding on one of these, and was ordered to pay €2,000 digitally while his license has been revoked for one whole year.

He is one of the first victims of these new digital fines with it just starting on Monday, saving time all round. The licence plate is recognised and analysed by the cameras, with the fine being able to be paid quickly and efficiently when sent through to the culprit.

While he is speeding across the tarmac in his Lotus, his tennis career seems to be stalling. The two-time Grand Slam finalist and 2019 ATP Finals champion was once as high as world number three, regularly going deep into bring competitions. He has won three Masters 1000 titles, all in the Monte-Carlo Masters, and in total has collected 12 titles in his decorated career.

However, it seems to have been stuck in reverse gear for a little while for the 27-year-old, who is struggling for form on the court. At the start of the year, he made it back-to-back opening round exits in Grand Slam events for the first time since 2019 when he was defeated by American Alex Michelsen. A couple of events later, he rolled back the years and stormed to glory in the Dubai Tennis Championships. He clinically fended off Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-3, 6-3 in the final, making people ponder whether he was back to his best.

The short answer is no. He could not replicate his good form in the Sunshine double, while he made just two quarter-finals on the clay swing, a period of the season he usually excels at. Around this time, he called for the expertise of Novak Djokovic's former coach Goran Ivanisevic. The Croation coach was truthful but ruthless when speaking on Tsitsipas, criticising his mentality and calling his fitness 'really bad,' and that he had not put in enough work. This partnership lasted just under two months. After a first-round exit at Wimbledon, Tsitsipas brought back his father, Apostolos, to regain command after almost a year apart.

This partnership would not produce the results or performances they would have been hoping for. He managed just two wins in four competitions across the North American hardcourt swing. One of them came against Alexandre Muller at the US Open for his second Grand Slam win of the season, showing how dreadful his results were on the main stage. He would not go any further in Flushing Meadows, squandering a 2-1 lead against the German Daniel Altmaier.

He would skip the Asian swing due to a back injury but was not prepared to skip the lucrative Six Kings Slam in Riyadh. A spot opened up after Jack Draper withdrew from the event due to an arm injury. He was unable to take his chance in Saudi Arabia back among the best in the world, being comfortably defeated by Jannik Sinner. He has not stepped onto the court since. The back injury stuck around, forcing him to make the tough decision to miss out on the Hellenic Championship in Athens in front of a home crowd. It also forced him to miss out on gaining more ranking points, as he slid outside the top 30 for the first time in seven years. Currently ranked 34th in the world, he may not even be seeded for the upcoming Australian Open.