The former finalist survives a turbulent ride in Paris
©Clement Mahoudeau / FFTNever one to turn down a pain au chocolat (check his X profile if you don’t believe us), 2021 Roland-Garros finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas is admittedly a fan of French breakfast. Today he took a different type of petit déjeuner on Court Suzanne-Lenglen, braving an 11am start with Germany’s Daniel Altmaier, and emerging victorious 6-3, 6-2, 6-7(2), 6-4.
Learn more about the Greek’s entertaining second-round triumph below…
Just as he did in his opening-round match, a 7-6(7), 6-4, 6-1 victory over talented Hungarian Marton Fucsovics, Tsitsipas was out of the gates fast against Altmaier, taking charge of the run of play from the first ball.
Extreme focus. Extreme talent. That’s Stefanos Tsitsipas at his best – especially on the clay.
Tsitsipas broke in the fourth game of set one and dropped just six points on serve in the opening set. The Greek then pegged the accelerator, reeling off five games from 5-2 in the opener to lead 6-3, 4-0.
Tsitsipas took possession of a two sets to love lead at the 59-minute mark, but his biggest challenges were yet to come…
The 83rd-ranked Altmaier has made Paris a stomping ground in years past, the German notably engineering a pair of head-turning upsets in his three previous appearances on the Parisian clay. In 2020 Altmaier took out then-world No.8 Matteo Berrettini to reach the round of 16. A 22-year-old qualifier at the time, and making his Grand Slam main draw debut, Altmaier cited 2015 champion Stan Wawrinka as an inspiration as he pulled the 6-2, 7-6(5), 6-4 shocker.
Last year Altmaier pulled another rabbit out of his hat, taking out Jannik Sinner in five sets to reach the third round.
Though he was flatter than a day-old panini through two sets, fans inside Court Suzanne-Lenglen were treated to peak Altmaier in set three.
Just three days after defeating Laslo Djere in the longest match of the first round (5:04), Altmaier surged to life in the third set, summoning his very best to throw Tsitsipas off the victory trail.
The 25-year-old struck gold in the third-set tiebreak, playing a series of breathtaking points to claim the stanza.
In the fourth set the struggle continued, a trade of breaks leaving the antagonists on serve at 4-4, before Tsitsipas kicked into overdrive and powered through the finish line, officially dashing Altmaier’s hopes in two hours and 43 minutes.
In a rare clash of two players who employ the single-handed backhand, Tsitsipas admitted that he actually enjoys facing players who are a mirror image of himself in that regard.
“I don’t get to play against single-backhand guys that often,” said Tsitsipas. “It’s almost as if I’m getting a taste of my own tennis. I think the single-handed backhand can be very effective on clay, opening up the court, creating much more topspin, especially if you get good timing on it – I feel like it can do miracles on the red clay.
“It brings a different challenge, facing guys with a single-handed backhand. I feel like my brain needs to operate with a little bit of a different rotation to come up with some good shots.”
Altmaier finished with nine backhand winners against 16 unforced errors on the day, while Tsitsipas hit three backhand winners against eight unforced errors off that wing.
With a 15-3 record on his favourite surface in 2024 (49-12 since the start of 2022), 2024 Monte-Carlo champion Tsitsipas has once again emerged as a threat to make a deep run in Paris. Add in the fact that he’s a former finalist who has made the second week in each of his last five appearances on the Parisian clay and you’d be remiss not to consider the Greek as a candidate to lift the Coupe des Mousquetaires next Sunday.
Tsitsipas prefers not to think of himself that way, at least for the moment.
“I would say probably Novak Djokovic is still the favourite, because he has won here a few times,” he said of the man who defeated him from two sets down in the 2021 final in Paris. “Despite maybe not the best results from his side in the last few weeks, in terms of what we were used to from Djokovic, I still consider him the favourite.”
So what did we learn about Tsitsipas’ title hopes today? There are two ways to frame a response.
He struggled to close out a lower-ranked player and nearly was forced into a five-setter, but handled the adversity well and finished off a hard-earned win in style.
As the saying goes, you have to survive to thrive – Tsitsipas will face either Lorenzo Sonego or Zhang Zhizhen in the third round.
ROLAND-GARROS
19 May - 8 June 2025
