Stefanos Tsitsipas has added reinforcements to his US Open team as Patrick Mouratoglou, the former coach of Serena Williams joined his coaching team in New York. Having led Williams to 10 of her 23 Grand Slam titles, Mouratoglou announced the news through a story on his Instagram. 

“I’m at the airport on the way to New York City, where I will take care of Stefanos Tsitsipas for the US Open along with Tomas Perrin, who is working with him on a daily basis,” Mouratoglou said in the video he filmed at the airport. “And I’m super excited. Love the US Open. Love New York. Love Stefanos. So excited to get there. Cannot wait.”

Tsitsipas has had a turbulent coaching relationship with his father Apostolos throughout his career. This has affected his performance on several occasions, and he admitted himself that he wanted to make decisions for himself, which ultimately led to their coaching split after exiting Wimbledon in the second round to Novak Djokovic.

Following the end of the long partnership, he hired Mouratoglou’s academy to help him with his coaching. Since the union, Tomas Perrin has taken up the day-to-day responsibilities for his coaching, with Mouratoglou guiding him from a distance in a more supervisory role. However, this time the play changes gears at the US Open, as Mouratoglou takes the main role alongside Perrin instead of working from the sidelines.

Initial outcomes of the transition were actually promising. Shortly after the change came the first trophy in 16 months for Tsitsipas in Gstaad, proving the decision was right. Since then, however, the North American hard-court swing has been quite turbulent.

He lost in the second round in Montreal to Joao Fonseca, the second round in Cincinnati, and came into Winston-Salem on hard courts in search of rhythm before the US Open. He opened there with a gritty 6-4, 7-6(6) win over Jenson Brooksby but was then upset by American Aleksandar Kovacevic 6-3, 7-6 in the round of 16.

With Mouratoglou in his team, he would be looking to overturn his fate at the US Open, which has historically been the least successful Grand Slam for the 28-year-old Greek. He has a main draw record of 7-8, with his best appearance being the third round, which occurred on two occasions in 2020 and 2021.

Having lifted the title with a new setup just weeks ago, Tsitsipas will be hoping that the most experienced voice, one who has guided Serena to the championship at Arthur Ashe, can help him navigate the US Open puzzle.