I played immaturely at times," reflects Tsitsipas after his second-round exit at Roland Garros

For the first time since 2019, Stefanos Tsitsipas will not be present in the second week of Roland Garros. The blame falls on inconsistent play and the tenacity of Matteo Gigante, ranked 167th in the world, who secured the biggest victory of his career here.

Tsitsipas will also drop out of the top 20 after the tournament, a first since 2018—a clear sign of the decline the two-time Grand Slam finalist is experiencing. He discussed the reasons for this loss in a press conference:

"I expected much more from myself these two weeks, so it hurts to be eliminated so early in the tournament. I have to acknowledge that my opponent deserved his win; he played incredible tennis. His determination throughout the match impressed me.

"It’s always a challenge to face someone you don’t know. He handled the tense moments and the pressure well. He played with maturity. On my side, I played immaturely at times, and I’m not happy about that.

"I made a lot of unforced errors even when I wasn’t necessarily under pressure. My focus wavered a bit; I wasn’t in the present moment."

Three months after his title in Dubai—where many thought his resurgence had begun with the use of a new racket—Tsitsipas failed to ride that wave. He ultimately chose to return to his old racket:

"I’m trying to go back to what makes me comfortable and what feels best. I’ve had disappointing results in the last clay tournaments, and I felt like I didn’t deserve to lose those matches in that way. In those two or three matches, I was making unforced errors left and right.

"With the new racket on clay, I might have achieved some things I hadn’t before, but overall, I didn’t have a good feeling. So I decided to return to something I’m comfortable with, something I know better, and that has served me very well on clay these past two years.