It won’t be wrong to say that the 2026 season so far has been quite forgettable for Stefanos Tsitsipas. He had entered the Swiss Open with his best result being a quarterfinal appearance in Doha earlier in February. But he has managed to change his fortunes in Gstaad and has reached his first final in 16 months. But the road to this stage has been anything but easy, and the best example of that was Tsitsipas’ semifinal clash against Alexander Shevchenko, where he almost broke his leg on two separate occasions.

After winning the first set, Tsitsipas suffered a nasty fall and twisted his ankle during the second. The Greek would go on to lose the second set before suffering another fall in the decider. Though many suspected that he had hurt his ankle badly because of the two falls, Tsitsipas came out unscathed and continued playing. He showed his resilience in the third set and delivered a heroic performance to clinch the match 6-4, 3-6, 6-3. Tsitsipas also played down injury concerns after the match.

“I broke a racket, I almost broke my leg… twice,” he said during the post-match interview. “It was a very fun day, full of adventures. To be honest, something like this has never happened to me. It was so dramatic and so bad. I literally rolled through the middle of the track like a sack of potatoes. I was scared because when your foot gets stuck on the ground, you can twist your ankle, and that’s an injury that can leave you out for many months.”

Though Tsitsipas may have fallen to No. 85 on the rankings, he still has the hunger to perform and win titles. The 27-year-old has suffered a lot because of injuries and poor results in the last few seasons. But he is optimistic about overcoming the rough patch and getting back into title contentions regularly.

“I have lived what it means to be above the ranking, playing the final rounds of Grand Slam and Masters 1000. I know how much pain and suffering it means to do it constantly. Believe me, it’s not nice. You have to be a little masochistic to enjoy that suffering. That’s what differentiates the best from the rest. They are able to withstand a little more,” he added.

This will be Tsitsipas’ 31st ATP final and his first since the 2025 Dubai Championships. It will also be his first final on clay since the 2024 Barcelona Open. But it can turn out to be quite an unpredictable final in Gstaad, as both finalists have never faced each other in a tour-level match before.

Stefanos Tsitsipas will take on Raphael Collignon in the Swiss Open final

Unlike Tsitsipas, this will be Raphael Collignon’s first final on the ATP Tour. Both players have had exhausting campaigns and have been a part of multiple grueling matches. They have dropped three sets each so far.

For context, Collignon was on the verge of losing to Valentin Vacherot in the quarterfinals. The latter even had the match point under his belt at one stage, but ended up committing a silly double-fault, which helped Collignon capitalize. The Belgian eventually snatched a hard-fought 7-6, 4-6, 7-5 victory.

Collignon had a pretty similar match against Juan Manuel Cerundolo in the semis. He mounted a sensational comeback after losing the first set 1-6, and went on to clinch the next two sets 7-6, 7-5 in what was a dramatic encounter.

Tsitsipas has also had a similar run to Collignon at the Swiss Open. Aside from the rollercoaster clash against Shevchenko, he was also involved in tiring matches against Jerome Kym and Arthur Rinderknech. He first downed Kym 6-4, 6-7, 7-6 before racking up another remarkable 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 victory against Rinderknech to reach the semifinals.

It is safe to say that both Tsitsipas and Collignon may not be in the best of shape in the final. It remains to be seen which one of the two will conquer the clay courts in Gstaad.