Speaking ahead of the Rotterdam Open this week, the French Open finalist said:
“How do I see the future of tennis? I didn’t know I am a prophet.
“I see the future of tennis having a top-six or a top eight, top eight guys competing for Grand Slam titles.”
Even though the 2022 season is young, even more players have put their hat in the ring to challenge for major competitions in the future including Denis Shapovalov and Felix Auger-Aliassime who helped Canada win the ATP Cup, 20-year-old Jannik Sinner who made it to the Australian Open quarter-finals and the 2021 Miami Open champion Hubert Hurkacz.
As well as the fresh up and coming talent shaking up the sport, there is also a Netflix ‘Drive to Survive’ type documentary in the pipeline focussing on tennis players and the Greek star was one of the first players to sign up to allow camera crews to follow him around.
Tsitsipas believes this will attract a new audience to tennis as he explained: “I see a lot of hype and evolutions in sense of concept and rebrand of our sport.”
As well as looking ahead to the future, the three-time Australian Open semi-finalist took aim at his competitors who are only comfortable playing on one surface when speaking ahead of the ATP 500 Rotterdam tournament.
He said: “I think I’m able to play on all surfaces.
“I don’t want to be the one that can play well only on one surface.
“I’m capable of playing equally well on all of them and produce points on all surfaces ATP offers during the season.”
Top seed Stefanos Tsitsipas will square off against Spain's Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the first round of the 2022 Rotterdam Open.
Tsitsipas started the season by representing Greece at the ATP Cup. He didn't compete in his first group tie as he wasn't at his best following elbow surgery towards the end of 2021.
In his second scheduled match, he suffered a three-set loss to Diego Schwartzman before receiving a walkover in his final group tie.
