If it’s not one thing, it’s another with Stefanos Tsitsipas. For all his tennis talents, he is often accused of gamesmanship and cheating in his matches. Here are all the ways he has managed to get under his opponents’ skins.

Stefanos Tsitsipas’ Gamesmanship Tactics

Bathroom Breaks

Stefanos Tsitsipas is notorious for taking long bathroom breaks. In more than one instance, he was accused of getting coached by his dad via text during his bathroom breaks. Conveniently, he takes these long breaks while he is losing.

The issue is that you cannot stop the way that that affects you physically. When you’re playing a brutal match like that, you know, stopping for seven, eight minutes, you do cool down. You can prepare for it mentally as much as you like, but it’s the fact that it does affect you physically when you take a break that long, well, multiple times during the match.

– Andy Murray

Shoes

Tsitipas’ shoelaces break often during matches. “Shoe-gate” issues have been common in Tsitsipas’ matches but Adidias and Tsitsipas have not been able to resolve them.

My laces are breaking on the last hole, when I’m sliding forehand side. My laces touch the ground. There’s a friction that causes the breakage of my shoelaces.

– Stefanos Tsitsipas

Coaching

Stefanos Tsitsipas’ dad, Apostolos, has been often accused of coaching from the stands. Apostolos often talks to Stefanos during breaks and communicates via signals.

Medical Time Outs

Tsitsipas has taken “strategic” time breaks to distract his opponents in key matches. Many other tennis players abuse medical time out as well.

Anger Issues

Tsitsipas tends to show a lot of anger when things are not going his way on the court. On one occasion, he even accidentally hit his father with his racquet.

Hubert Hurkacz has been on a vegan diet since 2018. Hurkacz has said that his inspiration for a vegan diet came from food programs on TVs and talking to others on a vegan diet. He tried it and he felt that the vegan diet gave him more energy. So he has continued with his vegan diet.

Studies have shown that vegan diets increase endurance and strength. Hurkacz has produced excellent results since turning vegan. In 2021, he reached the semifinals at Wimbledon and won the Miami Open Masters title.

Very few tennis players on the tour are vegan. Novak Djokovic is mostly on a vegan diet though he has talked about eating fish and eggs occasionally. It is believed that Djokovic is currently on a plant-based diet and avoids dairy.

Venus Williams switched to a vegan diet in 2011 after being diagnosed with Sjögren’s syndrome. Her sister Serena Williams also became vegan in 2017.

Basketball player Chris Paul has attributed his late-career resurgence to his vegan diet. Paul has said that the diet helped with his overall health, performance, and recovery after games. His experience with the vegan diet even led him to invest in Beyond Meat, a plant-based meat substitute company.