Patrick Mouratoglou reveals what he has changed in Stefanos Tsitsipas’ game after recently becoming his coach

Tsitsipas, currently 44th in the ATP rankings, reached round four at the 2026 US Open, his best result at a Grand Slam this year and his best-ever finish in New York. 

Not many would have predicted Tsitsipas to advance past the first round when he was faced with a brutal opening assignment: Cincinnati Open champion Arthur Fils. 

But the former world number three triumphed over Fils in four sets and went on to beat Lloyd Harris and Jiri Lehecka before ultimately falling to eventual finalist Ben Shelton.

Patrick Mouratoglou reacts to Stefanos Tsitsipas’ US Open run

Tsitsipas’ run at the US Open came after he appointed a new coaching team, made up of Thomas Perrin and Patrick Mouratoglou.

Mouratoglou, the former longtime coach of Serena Williams, explained exactly what he changed in Tsitsipas on his YouTube channel.

The 56-year-old Frenchman said: “So what was done? First of all, come to the match with a good plan, and I think he had a very good plan.

“I’m talking about strategically. And second, make sure he would compete well.

“And I think the way he was talking to himself in the previous weeks was not the ideal way because I was looking at the matches, and from the start to the end, he was a better player at the start than he was at the end.

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“This is a sign that the player is not talking to himself in a way that lifts his level up, but drags himself down. And he was able to change the way he was talking to himself during that match.

“We spoke about it before. That was key, and it was key that he kept doing this throughout the whole tournament. And the last key is his slice backhand, which is something that he was not using that much.

“I think in the past, his slice backhand was floating a little bit. He made incredible progress there. And the fact that he was able every time to slice very low, very fast, very deep, and was giving him the chance to run around his backhand and use his forehand more often. So that was also one very tactical asset to his game.” 

Patrick Mouratoglou ‘happy’ with Stefanos Tsitsipas’ progress

Though he is still a far cry from the level that saw him reach Grand Slam finals, Tsitsipas’ ranking of 44th in the world is the highest it has been since March.

“I’m happy about his progress,” said Mouratoglou.

“I think he made very good progress because he’s very focused, he’s working hard, and I’m also proud of the way he competed, which was also something that was a bit missing in the previous month and even weeks, because he competed extremely well.

“I think something clicked during this US Open, and I’m happy to see that. I’m sure that he’s going to bring this new Stefanos to the next tournaments, the Asian Swing and the whole indoor season.”

Tsitsipas does not have any ATP points to defend between now and the end of the season, giving him a big opportunity to climb the rankings again.

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