I used to closely follow what Stefanos Tsitsipas posted online. This was an interesting time. The year was 2019, and Tsitsipas was then a 20-year-old with his whole radiant future before him, this dynamic attacking player who had just defeated back-to-back defending champion Roger Federer at the Australian Open and had sped into the top 10. Patrick Mouratoglou, who had first seen clips of Stef’s tennis on YouTube, was then acting as a consultant. Speaking of YouTube, Tsitsipas was also quite serious about creating his own videos about his life and his thoughts. He told me that sometimes on court his mind drifted to creating content. I didn’t think too much of it at the time. It’s natural, perhaps even healthy, for the mind to wander even when hard at work. But there were concerning signs. “It’s a very satisfying feeling, to be uploading, to be creating,” Tsitsipas told me then. “It’s a feeling that, basically, makes me—makes me feel alive. I feel that I’m brought to this world to, you know, there’s a purpose in living. And I find it tough to stop it.” I suppose at this point it would have been reasonable to pump the brakes on my expectations for his career.

It feels like several lifetimes have elapsed since then. Tsitsipas spent six seasons perched near the top of the game—and these past two seasons slipping far away from it. His once-fearsome serve and forehand withered away. During his post-2024 slump he has been dealing with serious injuries, shuffling through too many coaches and racquets, and seeking answers. Perhaps he has landed on at least one answer. This year, just before Wimbledon, he finally cast out a longtime head coach—his father, Apostolos Tsitsipas—and declared that this time, unlike last time, their split was permanent. I have heard this move described by someone close to Tsitsipas as an absolute necessity. As a general rule I will always support tennis players firing their dads from their staff. After subtracting dad, Tsitsipas reunited with Mouratoglou, king of the viral coaching clips. He now leads the team, often remotely, but this week he is in the player’s box to watch his old charge try to defibrillate a career.

The US Open is Tsitsipas’ nightmare Slam; he has never advanced past the third round. You might recall his 2020 third-round collapse against Borna Coric, one of the sudden and inexplicable losses of form I’ve ever seen. In 2021 he got wrecked by a juvenile Carlos Alcaraz and reported that he’d never seen anyone hit the ball that hard before. (At least that loss has aged well.) In 2022 he lost to a qualifier in the first round. But none of his US Open struggles have been as dire as his 2025 appearance. After a second-round defeat to Daniel Altmeier in five sets, Tsitsipas couldn’t walk for two days. That back injury forced him to withdraw from the rest of his events for the year. His ranking plummeted. Reflecting this week on his post-Open state last year, he said it was probably the lowest point of his career.

But look at him now. Look at his posts. Look at his scores. According to his seemingly LLM-slickened tweets, he spent the week before the Open watching compilations of Roger Federer and drilling his backhand. He should make a habit of both. Ranked No. 53 heading into the Open, it was Tsitsipas’ first time ever playing this tournament unseeded. And in the first round he had to play a No. 10 seed opponent whose name was being casually thrown into title contender talk: the 22-year-old Arthur Fils, fresh off a Cincinnati title, looking as youthful and dangerous as Tsitsipas did at that age. Fils is also coached by Goran Ivanesevic, who had previously coached Tsitsipas, and who memorably ridiculed his pupil after their partnership ended. I can’t say I expected 2026 Tsitsipas to rise to this grudge matchup, but after going down a set and 2–5, he ran away with the match. The Tsitsipas forehand, among the tour’s finest in some bygone era, was once again the best shot on the court, and even his frequently disastrous one-handed backhand seemed up to the task. A second-round win against Lloyd Harris on Thursday, full of brilliant shotmaking, advanced Tsitsipas to his first third-round at any Slam since 2024. “There’s something in the air in New York,” writes Stefanos. Is it a comeback?