The Kardashians have been eating their flesh and airing their dirty laundry on worldwide television for 20 seasons. They pull each other’s hair and kiss until you say “Kim”. Brad Pitt’s six children are rumored to not want to see their father, not even painted – some even plan to go through life only using their mother’s last name. Prince Harry and King Charles have often been the subject of tabloid headlines for their tumultuous relationship, which has worsened steadily since the Megxit of 2020.

The feud between Britney Spears and her father Jamie is proverbial, as she has targeted him for financial exploitation for years and indirectly blamed him for her psychological distress. Macaulay Culkin, Zendaya, Drew Barrymore, and countless other child prodigies have often rebelled against their parents and the way they decided to raise them – in the public eye. Watch the video of Stefanos Tsitsipas’ outburst Stefanos Tsitsipas’ outburst against his father during the match In short, since the time of Cain and Abel, the institution of the family has been plagued by pathologies.

Stefanos Tsitsipas seems determined to prove this point by increasingly exposing the toxic relationship he maintains with both his father and former coach, Apostolos Tsitsipas, and his mother Julia Apostoli. The latest outburst and confrontation took place just last Thursday at the Montreal Open, where he was defeated 2-0 by Japanese player Kei Nishikori. The 26-year-old tennis player repeatedly directed insults that no one would want to repeat towards his father, who was in the stands and eventually showed him the way out of the stadium – a few hours later even from his coach’s position. Stoically, the latter followed his son’s lead, who, from a tennis phenomenon, is transformed – one must admit – into an example to be avoided.

Regarding his inappropriate behavior during the match, the 11th-ranked ATP player expressed disappointment with his father’s coaching approach, deemed his choices not smart, and left open the possibility of making radical changes. On Friday afternoon, through his preferred method of communication, X, Stefanos announced the end of his collaboration with his father in an attempt to escape the negative publicity caused by his behavior, seek redemption from the deadlock he seems to have been in for a while, and perhaps bring catharsis to a family drama that episode after episode turns into a soap opera. “My father has been trying for years to educate me, raise me in the right way, and provide me with knowledge and wisdom both on and off the court. I thank him for that. I thank him for the sacrifices, the pain, and the suffering he has endured to make this effort successful. From now on, his role will remain within the limits of the paternal role, and only that,” the tennis player noted in his extensive apology memorandum. One could observe, however, that this time

Apostolos Tsitsipas, whose successor Stefanos has not yet been decided. In January 2020, he left the ATP Cup in Sydney with a hand injury when he was hit by shrapnel from the racket that broke next to him by his hot-headed son. Insults to his mother According to the cliché, history repeats itself as a farce. This is exactly confirmed to the fullest extent in Stefanos’s case, the tennis player with the once frenzied rise on the courts and the rapid fall in the basic principles of good behavior, as his experiences seem unable to impress him as lessons.

In May 2023, in another ATP Masters 1000 match in Rome, the Greek champion wrote history again for all the wrong reasons. Facing Daniil Medvedev in the rainy semifinal of the tournament, he chose to attract attention not for his performance on the clay court (he was defeated 2-0 by his Russian opponent), but by publicly berating his mother who was watching the match from the stadium box. Stefanos, visibly out of control, turned towards her and asked – presumably rhetorically – if she was stupid, and then ordered her not to give him instructions in Russian, the language that his opponent could understand. A few days later, he decided to apologize for what his father and coach characterized as an unfortunate incident between mother and son and expressed his genuine and sincere regret through their joint interview. “It was a big mistake of mine. I am ashamed that I spoke to my mother like that. At that moment, however, I had lost the ball mentally in the game. I did not expect my opponent to fight so hard, to give such a good performance on the court. I felt like I was being stung (from the box) while playing. And it was the last thing I wanted, over what was already there,” he said and continued: “Watching this video, I don’t think it’s a good example for the kids and the rest of the world. I believe that the mother’s role is to stay out of coaching and not be allowed to do that. In my case, however, my mother knows and knows about tennis, so it’s somewhat different. I hope something like this doesn’t happen again because it’s certainly not professional behavior. The next time I reach such a point, all this will pass through my mind before I say anything.”

Fifteen months later, Stefanos made sure to contradict himself in the most celebratory way, repeating the worst version of himself and gaining even more virality on social media for all the wrong reasons. Many even rushed to rightfully compare his outburst with the public thank you that Emanouil Karalis addressed to his father Haris and mother Sara immediately after his competition at the Tokyo Olympics where he finished fourth. The bronze Olympic medalist of Paris had written behind his performance number the phrase “Thank you Mom + Dad” and had raised it high towards the stands after his last jump. But not all families are the same. Or, as Tolstoy wrote in “Anna Karenina,” “every unhappy family is unhappy in its way.”

Stefanos Tsitsipas’ Parents

Both the father and mother of the 26-year-old tennis player have publicly faced their son’s attack What went wrong The truth is that Stefanos Tsitsipas, who is reminded that in 2016 he reached the top of the junior rankings, especially at the beginning of his career when his star was rising in international tournaments and he was winning the title of the greatest tennis player Greece has ever produced through talent and hard work, had only good words to say about his parents. In interviews, he spoke about the financial sacrifices they made so that he could secure the funds for travel and participation in international tournaments, about the contribution of his mother’s sister, the influence and impact of his tennis coach father, and mother, a former champion of the sport in the former USSR, in his decision to pursue tennis from the age of 5, about how he would not be the same person if he did not come from this family. And he seemed grateful. In fact, in 2022, he cinematically gifted an Aston Martin DBX worth 240,000 euros to his father, while it is known that he has given his mother’s name to his beloved Tesla. It was the time when Stefanos self-identified as an enthusiastic admirer of Roger Federer – he has admitted that he cried for two nights after the Swiss player retired from active play in September 2022 – and said that he would like to be remembered more as a great person out there in real life than as a great athlete on the court. To inspire and set an example for young people. From the recent incident, which some watched awkwardly, others appalled, and still others with a sense of alienation, it is clear that he is on the wrong path. What went wrong? This is something that only the close-knit core of the Tsitsipas family can know – the rest of us only witness Stefanos’s outbursts as a result of the pressure and anger that seem to be brewing between parents and their eldest son. It is a roller-coaster relationship.

In May Stefanos and Julia Apostoli created a video that could be described as tender on the occasion of Mother’s Day. He took on the role of interviewer to extract memories and moments from her life. Yet a few days later, she seemed rather tactless or at least appeared to not exactly give her blessing for her son’s reunion with fellow tennis player Paula Badosa: “It’s a decision that has been made, no one asked for my opinion. I don’t have an opinion, because when they were together, I never saw Paula play tennis. Sometimes these things happen, but from the time I met her, she was very good against me. She is not a girl with a lot of self-confidence, although sometimes she gives this impression. Also, she needs great support and must learn things, and have experiences. So with the good and the bad, I am with them, because they are young. And it’s not just about tennis and relationships. Many things are happening behind the scenes. You have to support them. And when they need my support, I will always be there for them.”

Perhaps it would be reasonable for Stefanos to be offended or at least not throw his hat into the ring regarding his mother’s statements. Perhaps not, as he also seems to not have the best opinion of his partner, whom he appeared to mock on social media a few days ago: just in early July, against the backdrop of Monaco, the Greek tennis player posted a video on his Instagram account in which he called his beloved “hippopotamus” due to her alleged greediness, while in another post he did not have exactly the best things to say about her physical condition and size.

Stefanos seems to have a knack for stirring up controversy and drawing attention to himself, whether intentionally or unintentionally. This is evidenced by the many times he has set himself up against haters, for instance during the pandemic and social distancing he had stated that he would only get the coronavirus vaccine if it became mandatory, despite previously starring in vaccination awareness campaigns, or when he wrote on Twitter, now X: “In life, you either stand out and are commented on, or you comment on those who stand out. It’s simple – I gossip, therefore I exist.” Yes, his philosophical musings are proverbial. For example, he has promoted changing conventional cars to Teslas as a solution to the climate crisis, declared that a salary is nothing more than a bribe to set aside one’s ambitions, and wondered if women who park badly have stacks of unwashed dishes.

Tomorrow Stefanos Tsitsipas turns 26. No one can be sure after the recent incident with his father that he will celebrate surrounded by his family, which, however, seems to possess unparalleled expertise in what the wise people (and Kaiti Garbi) have described as “forgotten pasts.” In any case, it is a good opportunity for him to take stock. He has reached the 3rd position in the world rankings – currently, he is at No. 11 -, he has earned $31.5 million as a professional tennis player, he lives and trains in Monaco behaves like a spoiled diva, and above all has managed to position his aggressive self-identification in front of his name in a controversial way. You can’t exactly call it modest.