Stefanos Tsitsipas’ split from his father and long-time coach Apostolos has been cast in a new light after his title run in Gstaad, with Rennae Stubbs suggesting the move had become overdue.

The four-time women’s doubles major champion said the Greek’s recent revival supports the decision to end a difficult partnership that had stretched across a testing spell on the ATP Tour. Tsitsipas briefly worked with former Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic last year, but that arrangement lasted only two months before he returned to his father.

Three weeks after ending that latest partnership with Apostolos, the 27-year-old ended a 16-month wait for a title by winning the ATP 250 event on Sunday. He beat Raphael Collignon in three sets to lift the trophy.

After the final, Tsitsipas said, “It’s a crazy feeling right now. I survived a marathon and it was a long week. I played some crazy matches in the past couple of days. Every single match felt like it was never finished, and somehow I managed to convert every single time and get the victory.

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“Today I couldn’t be more blessed, couldn’t be more happy. It’s been an incredible effort from my side to go out there and do that over and over again. I’ve dealt with some pain in the past couple of days. So I’ve had to withstand a lot of different things. The result was obviously the best thing I would have imagined at the beginning of the week.”

Tsitsipas, who dropped to 87th in the world after Wimbledon, now has Thomas Perrin in his team. Perrin has spent many years coaching at Patrick Mouratoglou’s academy.

Stubbs, whose own coach Serena Williams won in Switzerland, moved back to 49th in the rankings after his victory. She called it the right choice to “finally flick his dad as his coach”, then offered her view of what matches looked like from the players’ box.

On the latest episode of The Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast, she said, “Some would say his dad’s gotten him here and there, and I am like, but the problem is Stef loses his s*** on the court and half the time it’s not even at his tennis, it’s at his dad, and his dad is yelping at him from the sideline… that is so negative. I know because I was told what he was saying at times by somebody who speaks Greek.

“So maybe you need someone out there who is making you feel good, and half the time, that’s what coaches do. There are certain things you have to tell your player, whether it be Xs and Os and what we’re going to work on and what we’re gonna get better at.

“But in the end you have to have someone supportive of you, who really believes in you when you get into the trenches and when you get down those five match points in the second round, and you look up, and Sven Groeneveld (Karolina Muchova’s coach) is pounding his chest and saying ‘Keep fighting’.

“You need to look up and see a coach who believes in you, who thinks that you can still win, and not someone who is going to yelp negative s*** at you that makes you feel terrible on the court. Clearly that is finally working for Stef, and it’s nice to see him back.”

Tsitsipas’ previous title came at the Dubai Open in March 2025.

Victoria Mboko has moved quickly through the professional ranks and believes the addition of Wim Fissette to her team can accelerate her quest for a major title.

The 19-year-old Canadian debuted the partnership last week at the Internationaux de Strasbourg, reaching the final before losing in three sets to Emma Navarro. It was an immediate sign of progress after a season that included setbacks and adaptation to clay.

Mboko first played a Grand Slam in Paris last year, when she qualified and reached the third round. That breakthrough helped spark a rapid rise that has her sitting in the Top 10 12 months later.

Fissette brings a long résumé. He has coached major winners including Victoria Azarenka, Kim Clijsters, Naomi Osaka and Iga Swiatek, among others. His partnership with the last of those ended after the Miami Open in March, and Mboko hopes her name will soon join that list of decorated champions.

“I think bringing in someone who has the experience of working with such high-ranked players, and he has such a history of working with Slam champions, and he kind of knows what it takes to get there,” she said Monday ahead of her first-round Roland Garros match against Nikola Bartunkova. “So bringing in that kind of experience for me kind of gives me a different perspective of what I can do to be in those kinds of positions.”

If Strasbourg was any indication, the new combination is already producing benefits. Mboko admitted she did not expect to reach the final after an “unlucky” stretch that included wisdom teeth surgery and an illness that forced her to withdraw from the WTA 1000 in Rome, as well as a limited background on clay.

“When I first started training, I mean, I never really felt comfortable with my movement on clay,” she said. “So I think before even getting to the tennis part, I would try to work on the sliding and what not.

“I wouldn’t say I’m still that great at it, but I think it’s having the fitness to kind of compensate for how you play on court and to kind of help you in those certain aspects. I think right now I’m a lot better than how I started the training, so I think in those ways I’ve improved.”

Elena Rybakina confirmed she completed her driver’s test in the Porsche she earned by winning the Stuttgart title in 2024. The reigning Australian Open champion revealed the detail after a straight-sets victory over Diana Shnaider, a match in which she won 91% of her first-serve points to prevail 6-3, 6-4.

“Winning the tournament gave me a good push to finally do my exams and get the driver’s license, so I have it now and I’m enjoying the car,” Rybakina said on court after defeating Diana Shnaider in straight sets. “I’m enjoying the rides when I do my pre-season.”

Rybakina first confirmed she had earned her driver’s license back in 2025, joking she had become her team’s de facto chauffeur. As the top seed in Stuttgart this week, she did not drive to her first clay-court tournament of the season, but she made clear she is motivated to claim a second Porsche Tennis Grand Prix crown in three years. She will next face either Leylah Fernandez or Zeynep Sonmez.

Mirra Andreeva joined Rybakina in the quarterfinals, the No. 6 seed showing signs of renewed form on clay. Andreeva arrived in Stuttgart fresh off her second title of the year in Linz and, after dethroning defending champion Jelena Ostapenko, navigated a first-set tiebreak to defeat American Alycia Parks 7-6 (3), 6-3.

Andreeva had battled inconsistency earlier in the season after opening the year with a title in Adelaide and enduring difficult losses at the BNP Paribas Open and Miami Open. “I’m just super happy with the way I stayed composed,” Andreeva said after the match . “I felt like at some moments I was getting a little bit more tight, because for me, every point was important when you play against these kind of dangerous players.”

Andreeva has also spoken previously about learning to drive. “I’ve been practicing and it’s not like I don’t know anything about it,” she said back in Indian Wells . “I just need to have some time to get my driver’s license at some point, but I think I’m going to survive on the road.”

© 2026 Daniel Kopatsch