‘I love Mark,’ says Tsitsipas after Philippoussis split

Stefanos Tsitsipas said Friday he dropped Mark Philippoussis from his coaching team because “less is more” but insisted “I love Mark”.

The Greek world number five brought former Wimbledon and US Open runner-up Philippoussis into his set-up to work alongside his father and lifetime coach Apostolos in the second half of last season.

Philippoussis helped Tsitsipas to the Australian Open final in January, where he lost to Novak Djokovic, but the 24-year-old explained Friday “it can get quite kind of hectic having two coaches share opinions”.

“It was a mutual decision. We spent countless of hours on the phone talking a few weeks ago. It’s never easy having two coaches on the court,” said Tsitsipas.

“When you have a lot of people around you, it can get very draining. I love Mark. He’s an amazing person, and we still stay in touch with him very often.”

Tsitsipas was speaking just two days out from the start of the French Open at Roland Garros where he was runner-up to Djokovic in 2021.

It was a heartbreaking loss from two sets up in the final.

That defeat was followed by a last-16 exit in 2022 at the hands of Holger Rune.

Should Djokovic win a third French Open this year, it will give him a record-setting 23rd major, breaking a tie for the men’s record with Rafael Nadal who is absent from Paris with injury this year.

Tsitispas, however, prefers to ignore the significance of such a landmark performance.

“I don’t go to sleep at night thinking about that. Doesn’t really cross my mind. Doesn’t occupy too much of my thoughts,” he said.