Stefanos Tsitsipas has clear goals in mind that he wants to achieve before the end of the 2026 season.
Tsitsipas is a former world number three and two-time Grand Slam finalist, but after struggling for both form and fitness dropped to as low as world number 88.
The Greek has been able to rediscover some form since then, with Tsitsipas winning his 13th ATP title in Gstaad and reaching the fourth round of the US Open for the first time.
This has propelled Tsitsipas back into the top 50, but he still has some more goals he wants to achieve before the end of the year.
Stefanos Tsitsipas is hoping to be seeded at Grand Slams next year
Tsitsipas has won his first round match at the Shanghai Masters against qualifier Kimmer Copperjans 6-3, 7-5, but before this match even took place he spoke to Tennis TV about his goals for the rest of the year.
This is when Tsitsipas stated that he wants to be seeded for Grand Slams again, which he would need to be ranked inside the top 32 to do.
“I have purely like train and fitness are the things that mostly occupy my mind,” began Tsitsipas. “I’ve been getting in a nice routine and a lot of work in the last couple of days.
“This season has a few more quality weeks ahead of it, ahead of me as well, so I really want to utilise those weeks to score as many points as possible, get myself in a nice sweet position ranking wise, being seeded for Grand Slams, being able to avoid the big players in the earlier rounds.
“I came from a position earlier this year where I honestly felt like there wasn’t much to lose, because I was playing those big guys in earlier rounds. I consider myself with the big guys, with the big players, the ranking didn’t really justify that, but I knew that I could pull off some good upsets, some good wins, it was a question of time for me to get to positioning that.
“My tennis is well put together, I feel like there’s going to be new exciting challenges moving ahead, because I’m really close on fulfilling that goal of mine that I spoke about a few months ago. The next few weeks are going to be rough, they’re going to be difficult and I’m mentally prepared that I will need to surpass myself in a few different circumstances and situations, and maybe have tough, difficult matches that I will have to overcome too.”
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Tsitsipas continued by extending that goal to wanting to break back into the top 30 and also wanting to beat two top 10 players this year, something he has actually already achieved after beating Taylor Fritz at the United Cup and Alex de Minaur at the Miami Open, despite not realising it.
“I wanted to be top 30 at the end of the season, I wrote my goals down, so I’ve completed 80% of them,” added Tsitsipas. “Win a 250 title was one of them, try and beat two top 10 guys by the end of the year, I think I’ve achieved one so far if I’m not wrong. They are a few of the things that I want to accomplish.
“Another thing was entering week two at a Grand Slam, that I also accomplished two months after writing it down. So I really believe in those things, I really believe that once you really set yourself up properly, write things down, write your goals, put them on a piece of paper and have your head straight if you want to achieve x, y and z, there’s very little things that can obscure it happening once your attention is there mentally.”
| Stefanos Tsitsipas in 2026 | |
| Current ATP Ranking | No.43 |
| Titles won | 1 (Swiss Open – Gstaad) |
| Top 10 wins | 2 (Beat Taylor Fritz at the United Cup & Alex de Minaur at the Miami Open) |
| Best Grand Slam result | Fourth Round (US Open) |
Who will Stefanos Tsitsipas play next at the Shanghai Masters?
Tsitsipas missed the Shanghai Masters last year, but he has now returned to winning ways after his opening win against the aforementioned Copperjans.
The next match Tsitsipas will play is against 18th seed Luciano Darderi, who he has played one time before. Despite Darderi currently being the higher-ranked player, Tsitsipas won their only previous meeting at the Halle Open last year.
Tsitsipas will be hoping to continue this in the latter weeks of the 2026 season, as he hopes to break back into the top 30 for the first time since February.
After winning his first round match in Shanghai, Tsitsipas is confirmed to break back into the top 40, as he is now the world number 38 in the live rankings. Tsitsipas has a great opportunity to keep rising, with no ranking points to defend until 2027.
If Tsitsipas is able to beat Darderi, he could face 11th seed Fritz in the third round of the Shanghai Masters.
