PARIS — Stefanos Tsitsipas’s father is Greek. His mother is Russian. And he believes being a product of two disparate cultures is the foundation for his soaring tennis career.
“It was very important that I came from a second background, that I had two different cultures, Greek and Russian, involved in my life,” Tsitsipas said. “It gave me a whole different perspective about things.”
Ranked 205th a year ago, Tsitsipas, 19, is now 39th. His best results have come on clay, including a run to the final of Barcelona, beating three top-20 players en route without dropping a set against any.