As Stefanos Tsitsipas debriefed on his second-round loss at the Madrid Open last month, his regret was plain to see. The Greek explained that his goal had been to earn as close to 6,000 ATP ranking points as possible during the clay-court season, which he had calculated as the maximum amount he could gain during this period, in a perfect world. Now he was behind.
“Now I am maybe a step back from even achieving that, so minus 1,000,” he said. “I just have to keep on working for the points, because I really want to get out on the court to fight for the points that I feel belong to me, and reach new heights in terms of my ranking and my performance this season.”
