Sometimes we all need to stop, take stock and rethink a few things. Stefanos Tsitsipas, who arrives at the Mallorca Championships as the second seed, is doing just that.

“I’m trying to enjoy tennis from a perspective that I hadn’t done previously,” the Greek said during the build-up to his opener on Wednesday at the Mallorcan ATP 250. “Expectations aren’t so high, to be honest. I’m enjoying my life, and creating amazing memories is the most important thing at the moment.”

After earning a 17-4 record during the clay season — including a title in Monte Carlo, a final in Rome and a semi-final run in Madrid — Tsitsipas’ first outings on grass have been a little less productive. Tsitsipas has won two of the four matches he has played.

“I’m not focussed on any result, which is great,” the No. 6 player in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings said. “I’ve played in a lot of tournaments recently and I did very well in most, but really I want to enjoy myself and feel that I deserve some fun.”

That fun outside of tennis is certainly something he has found this week in Mallorca. “What I’ve enjoyed is swimming in the morning on the beach,” he said. “I’m not a huge fan of swimming pools, but I spend my time swimming in the sea and on the beach close to the house we’re living in.”

Tsitsipas is using these days to recharge his batteries before returning to competition, while also practising on the Balearic Island’s courts. “It’s absolutely perfect having this while you play on Tour, because it’s not something that happens often,” Tsitsipas said. “Also, it reminds me of my days in the place where I grew up. I had that life before being a tennis player and it makes me feel at home.

“Having the opportunity to play in a tournament like this and having such a familiar feeling, being by the beach with my loved ones, enjoying life, can sometimes be difficult when you’re away from home.”

There was one thing the Greek was not expecting to see when he set foot on the courts at the Mallorca Country Club: “I was surprised about the colour of the courts. It’s a grass court with a much more intense green and it creates more contrast with the ball, I really like that!”

Tsitsipas plays his opening match in Mallorca on Wednesday against Ilya Ivashka.

Spaniards Pablo Carreno Busta and Jaume Munar advanced on home turf Tuesday at the Mallorca Championships, edging third seeds Santiago Gonzalez and Andres Molteni, 7-6(4), 7-6(5).

The home favourites saved all seven break points against them in the contest. Despite not creating a break opportunity, the unseeded duo was at its best during both tie-breaks, in which the Spaniards never trailed.

Carreno Busta is seeking his fifth ATP Tour doubles title, with his most recent coming at the 2020 Western & Southern Open alongside Alex de Minaur. Munar, who reached the Santiago final with Federico Delbonis in 2021, is bidding for his first tour-level title title in singles or doubles. 

Roland Garros champions Jean-Julien Rojer and Marcelo Arevalo were also among the doubles winners on Tuesday in Mallorca, as the top seeds defeated Petros Tsitsipas and Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-3, 6-4, saving two break points while breaking once in each set.

Eastbourne Doubles Action
Luke Saville and Matwe Middelkoop scored the result of the day at the Rothesay International, upsetting second seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah, 6-3, 6-4. The Australian-Dutch duo lost just four points on first serve (28/32) against the Colombians, finishing with an 88 per cent win rate on their first delivery.

Queen’s Club finalists Lloyd Glasspool and Harri Heliovaara got back to winning ways with a 7-6(3), 6-7(9), 10-4 result against Ben McLachlan and Andre Goransson, while Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares advanced past third seeds John Peers and Filip Polasek, 6-4, 6-7(5), 10-7.

Top seeds Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic avoided an upset despite facing six break points as they posted a 6-4, 6-4 decision over Britons Ken Skupski and Jonny O’Mara, dropping serve just once.

Former champions Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal are already working hard at SW19 ahead of the season’s third Grand Slam at Wimbledon. Djokovic, Nadal, Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka are among the stars who have been spotted training on the hallowed grass.

Djokovic will pursue his seventh title at The Championships, where he owns a 79-10 record. The Serbian has won 21 consecutive matches at the tournament, having emerged victorious at the past three editions of the event.

Nadal has won the first two majors of the season at the Australian Open and Roland Garros. The Spaniard will try to complete the third step of the Grand Slam at Wimbledon, where he has lifted the trophy twice, in 2008 and 2010.

Daniel Vallverdu, the current coach of Wawrinka and a former member of Murray’s team, posted a photo with both men as they continued their preparation for the grass-court major. Also in the photo was Ivan Lendl, Murray’s coach. 

A few slam 🏆’s and myself.
Today was a good day!@stanwawrinka @andy_murray #Ivan@Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/qlTYtyRfCz

— Daniel Vallverdu (@danielvallverdu) June 20, 2022

Qualifying for Wimbledon began on Monday, with Jack Sock leading seven Americans through to the second round. Main draw action at The Championships will be played from 27 June through 10 July. Prize money for the event will total a record £40,350,000.

Nick Kyrgios broke a sweat but did not break serve in a Mallorca Championships win against Laslo Djere on Tuesday. The Aussie did his damage in a pair of tie-breaks to advance with a 5-7, 7-6(1), 7-6(1) result in Spain despite a strong serving performance from the Serbian.

It was a reversal of his semi-final defeat to eventual champion Hubert Hurkacz last week in Halle, where the Pole came from a set down by winning two tie-breaks to defeat Kyrgios without a break.

“I’ve played good tie-breaks in my career and I know that if I’m serving well I’ve got a good chance,” the Aussie said after his Mallorca win. “He was serving really, really well today and he played the big points really well. I’m just happy to win.”

Kyrgios fired 24 aces but faced eight break points, saving seven of them to stay within touching distance as he struggled to find peak form. The Aussie stayed locked in to erase all six break points he faced in the third set — three in each of his opening two service games — and won 23 of his last 24 points on serve to secure the victory.

The World No. 45 dominated both tie-breaks, racing to leads of 3/0 and 5/0 in the second and third sets, respectively.

“Laslo is a tough competitor,” Kyrgios said post-match. “We grew up together in juniors so I knew he was capable of playing some good tennis. I’m proud of myself for that [win].”

Looking to improve upon a pair of semi-final runs on the grass in Stuttgart and Halle, Kyrgios advances to play home favourite and fifth seed Roberto Bautista Agut in the second round. 

“Another hard one,” Kyrgios previewed. “He’s a great player and he’s a great guy as well. He’s one of my mates on tour and he’s very nice to me.”

American Marcos Giron also won a third-set tie-break to advance on Tuesday in Mallorca, upsetting sixth seed Botic van de Zandschulp 7-6(6), 6-4, 7-6(2). Eighth seed Sebastian Baez was a 6-3, 6-4 winner against Jordan Thompson, while Daniel Altmaier downed Dusan Lajovic, 7-5, 7-6(2).

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The ATP Tour and Formula 1 have plenty in common, not least that both are inherently international sporting organisations with events and talent spanning the globe. Each is also involved in a Netflix series to showcase the life of the world-class athletes that compete for the top prizes in their respective sports.

ATP Chairman Andrea Gaudenzi sat down with F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali to discuss some of those commonalities and look ahead to the future of tennis through the lens of OneVision, the ATP’s transformational game plan to grow the sport.

“It has been important, very important,” Domenicali said of the Netflix series ‘Formula 1: Drive To Survive’. “I have to say when we had the idea, some of the teams and drivers were saying, ‘We don’t want to be involved.’

“But at the end of the day we are discovering that that was the right decision. It’s a different way of talking about Formula 1.”

Domenicali explained how the Netflix series helped his sport share the stories of its athletes beyond the competition on the track. Gaudenzi has a similar vision for tennis and is excited to provide more behind-the-scenes content to fans.

“It’s a concept of trying to grow the pie and trying to elevate the sport for everybody,” he said. “Ultimately, everybody will benefit.”

That same idea applies to OneVision, as Gaudenzi explained, with the goal of creating engaging and original media to provide a richer fan experience.

“I strongly believe that our sport is very well suited for the digital transformation that is happening,” he said, noting the near-daily competition which provides content nearly 300 days out of the year with more than 64 tournaments, including competition in more than 30 countries.

Another important part of the OneVision plan centres around elevating the ATP Masters 1000 events as the ATP Tour’s premium product.

“We are also mindful that we need to finance the Challenger Tour,” added Gaudenzi, “because we need the stars of the future, the talent and the younger players to be able to actually make a living when they are preparing for the Tour.”

OneVision: In Conversation With Stefanos Tsitsipas & Andrea Gaudenzi

Formula 1 has a similarly tiered system that also includes F2, F3 and F4 as a pipeline to the elite level.

At all levels, both leaders stressed the importance of economic transparency, and the need for all stakeholders to work together.

“I do see the value in the transparency,” Gaudenzi said, replying to Domenicali’s comments on F1’s efforts in that regard. “We’re trying to do the same thing to provide visibility to the players and also a share of the upside, of the future success, with our profit-sharing formula.”

Both agreed that, ultimately, their sports are competing against other sports leagues and the entertainment industry for the time and attention of fans.

“I keep trying to tell my stakeholders that we always have internal fights, [but] we’re actually competing with other sports like Formula 1, soccer or football, NFL,” said Gaudenzi. “We’re also competing with entertainment platforms, whether it’s gaming, whether it’s music, Spotify. We’re competing with Netflix in a way.”

Unity was a constant thread throughout the discussion — the concept that a rising tide lifts all ships — whether that be within the respective sports or across the sports industry as a whole.

“There’s a huge opportunity that comes through unity,” Gaudenzi summarised, “because the individual interest obviously doesn’t always match the collective interest of the sport.”

Domenicali closed with a vote of confidence for the ATP’s OneVision plan, congratulating Gaudenzi on the concept.

“I think will be a big boost up in the system,” he said. “You will have your challenges, but I’m sure that with your credibility and your authenticity, you’re going to be able to achieve that.”

Phase One of OneVision, approved by the ATP Board in June 2022, comes into effect from January 2023. Learn More About OneVision