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.

Concerns are building around Holger Rune’s comeback as he prepares to return from injury with a new racket and a reshaped outlook on the timing of his best level.

The 23-year-old has been absent from the ATP Tour since he tore his Achilles tendon at the 2025 Stockholm Open last October. His repeated delays in returning have been reflected in the rankings, where the former world No. 4 has fallen to 81st, his lowest position since early 2022.

Rune is listed for the Cincinnati Masters in mid-August, but expectations for an immediate surge have been checked by commentator Gill Gross. Speaking on his YouTube channel, Gross suggested Rune may need a lengthy adjustment period before he can perform at his peak again, and pointed to Alexander Zverev’s recovery from the ankle injury he suffered at the 2022 French Open as a useful comparison.

Gross said on his YouTube channel, “I think the expectation should be really low. If you’ve seen how arduous this recovery process has been, this is a real break where you’re going to have some serious rust: mentally, technically, physically.

“This will probably be a pretty slow build for Holger. [Rafael] Nadal and [Jack] Draper are examples of players who tend to come back, and it doesn’t take them very long to get going, but Zverev did take a while to come back from his ankle injury at Roland Garros.

“When he came back, he was okay for about six months but he didn’t move like he usually moves and his confidence was pretty low overall on big points. There were a lot of issues when Zverev came back, and that lasted about six to eight months, and I would expect a similar timeline with Holger.”

Alongside the injury layoff, Rune has also changed equipment, moving from the Babolat Pure Aero 98 to the Wilson Defyer racket. In early July, he said, “I was instantly drawn to this racket when I first started playtesting with Wilson. They have been supportive of my recovery, and I can’t wait to compete with Defyer when I hit the court.”

Gross also reacted to reports that the change may have been made for “business reasons”, calling that a “dangerous” path and noting Andre Agassi as a famous example of a player whose racket situation later shifted with greater success elsewhere.

There is also the wider context of Rune’s rivalry with Carlos Alcaraz, who is likewise sidelined. The pair have met for over a decade and are tied 2-2 in their head to head. Rune won their most recent clash, beating Alcaraz in straight sets in the final of the 2025 Barcelona Open.

A former world No. 7 has said Carlos Alcaraz has “become a mystery” as the Spaniard’s injury absence continues without a firm return date.

Alcaraz has not competed since 14 April, when he picked up a right wrist injury during his opening-round win at the Barcelona Open. The seven-time Grand Slam champion has not announced when he will be back, although Spanish outlet La Verdad reported last week that he is aiming for next month’s Cincinnati Open. Clay, however, later reported that sources close to Alcaraz said: “Carlos is training, but still at a very low intensity.”

Former ATP player Corrado Barazzutti discussed the situation in an interview with Italian website Fanpage and said he could not make sense of the timeline around the injury.

“He’s become a mystery,” said Barazzutti, who won five ATP titles and reached two Grand Slams semi-finals in a career spanning from 1971 to 1984.

He added that the sequence of events left him puzzled. “He plays in Monte Carlo and loses to [Jannik] Sinner. Then he goes to Barcelona, ​​wins the first match, and retires the next day.

“From that point on, he doesn’t play for three or four months due to a wrist problem. At least as far as I’m concerned, I’d never heard of this problem.

“Personally, I never had any inkling that he had a wrist problem or that he was in pain. That’s why I’m having a hard time understanding.

“I don’t know what the problem is exactly, but it must be something serious, given that even today there’s no concrete talk of his return. The wrist, moreover, is a very delicate part of a tennis player’s body.

“I really don’t know what to say. But, at least from what’s been made public, practically nothing is known.”

Alcaraz began the 2026 season as world No. 1 and stayed there until 13 April, when he was passed by Sinner after losing to the Italian in the Monte Carlo Masters final. He now sits third in the rankings, with Alexander Zverev moving up to second after Wimbledon. Alcaraz’s 2026 record stands at 22-3.