(Tennis news) Stefanos Tsitsipas acknowledged full responsibility for his dismal second-round US Open loss to Dominic Stricker on Wednesday, denying rumours that a recent change in his coaching staff was the cause of his underwhelming performance during the North American hard-court tour.

The Greek, who has now failed to advance past the first round of the US Open in six of his career appearances in New York, claimed that his choice to promote Mark Philippoussis, a former US Open and Wimbledon finalist, to head coach over his father Apostolos this month was unrelated to his sluggish play and his loss to Swiss World No. 128 Stricker (7-5, 6-7(2), 6-7(5), 7-6(6), 6-3), who is ranked 128 in the world.

“By no means I’m supposed to put any blame on any people or any members of my team. Everything on court is under my control and under my talents, and the way I can play this sport are shown on the court. If I’m not able to deliver, then I’m not supposed to be doing well,” Tsitsipas said.

“That’s what happened this summer. I was not good enough to deliver and score good results. I won’t blame it on anything. It’s just a poor performance after Los Cabos.”

The World No. 7 has only triumphed in two matches since snapping a 12-month title drought in Mexico, and those victories came at the ATP Masters 1000 events in Toronto, Cincinnati, and the US Open. With a strong 41-16 record this year and a fifth-place finish in the Nitto ATP Live Race to Turin, the two-time major finalist is on course to earn his fifth straight appearance at the Nitto ATP Finals, which he won in 2019.

The 10-time ATP Tour titleist also paid tribute to the free-swing performance of the 21-year-old Stricker.

“I have no reason to say anything. It was just pure competition. My opponent showed better tennis than I did. I want to congratulate him,” Tsitsipas said. “I consider myself a good player, and I don’t want to be a person that can be beaten easily or I’m giving my opponents easy time on the court against me. I try to make it as hard as I can, and if it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work. I move on with my life.”

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