Xronia Polla to Stefanos Tsitsipas who turns 21 today

Greece’s young tennis sensation Stefanos Tsitsipas was born on the 12th of August 1998.

Tsitsipas is the youngest player ranked in the top 10 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) and has a career-high ranking of No. 5 in the world, making him the highest-ranked Greek player in history. He has won three ATP singles titles and reached seven finals.

Born into a tennis family where his mother was a professional on the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) tour and his father was trained as a tennis coach, Tsitsipas was introduced to the sport at age three and began taking lessons at age six. As a junior, he was ranked No. 1 in the world. He also became the third Greek player, and first Greek male in the Open Era, to win a junior Grand Slam title with a victory in the 2016 Wimbledon boys’ doubles event.

Tsitsipas won his first ATP match in late 2017 and quickly ascended up the ATP rankings the following year. He reached three tour-level finals in 2018 and won his first title at the Stockholm Open. With his runner-up finish at the Canadian Open, he became the youngest player to defeat four top-ten opponents in a single tournament. After culminating his season with an exhibition title at the Next Gen Finals, Tsitsipas continued to build on his success by reaching the semifinals at the 2019 Australian Open.

Tsitsipas was born to Apostolos Tsitsipas and Julia Apostoli (née Salnikova) in Athens. His father is Greek and his mother is Russian. Both of his parents are experienced tennis players, and his mother, in particular, was a world No. 1 junior who had a career-high professional ranking inside the top 200 and represented the Soviet Union in Fed Cup.

His parents had been working as tennis instructors at the Astir Palace resort hotel in Vouliagmeni at the time of his birth. They originally met at a WTA tournament in Athens where his mother was competing and his father was a line judge.

Stefanos has three younger siblings Petros, Pavlos, and Elisavet, all of whom are also tennis players.

With their strong backgrounds in tennis, Tsitsipas’s parents got their oldest son started on tennis at a very young age. Stefanos has said, “My first memory is to be three and to hit balls with my father in the gap between lessons. I remember watching games on TV, as a baby, I can not tell you who was playing, but I remember watching.”

He also participated in other sports as a kid, including football and swimming. His father said Stefanos made the decision to become a tennis player himself, recalling that his son “woke up in the middle of the night” after a tournament in France at age nine and told him “Dad, I have to tell you something: I want to become a tennis player, I like the competition, I like the challenge.”

Tsitsipas began taking lessons at Tennis Club Glyfada near Athens at the age of six and has long since continued to train there. His father has always served as his primary coach, and he formally studied tennis coaching at the University of Athens to help train his children.

In 2015, Tsitsipas also began training at the Patrick Mouratoglou Academy, splitting time between France and Greece during this period

Tsitsipas studied at an English-language school as a kid. He can speak English, Greek, and Russian. He is a supporter of Greek football team AEK Athens, his hobbies include vlogging and he hosts his own YouTube channel where he posts videos of his travels.

Xronia Polla Stefanos!