Tsitsipas family drama spills over during Stefanos defeat to Rublev in Turin

WATCH: Tennis Channel Live discusses Andrey Rublev earning a huge win over Stefanos Tsitsipas at the 2022 Nitto ATP Finals and the effects the Greek's family has on him during matches.

Another week, another uncomfortable Tsitsipas family moment that threatened to overshadow the tennis headlines after a Stefanos match.

The Greek world No. 3 was locked in a win-or-go-home ATP Finals battle with Andrey Rublev on Friday night in Turin. Things were going Tsitsipas’ way after clinching a flawless opening set, but he couldn’t hold back Rublev as the pair went into a decider.

He also couldn’t hold back his frustration as his family’s constant sideline chatter reached a tipping point. During a rapidly unraveling third set, Tsitsipas was seen smacking a tennis ball in the direction of his team, causing them to flinch away:

The incident—which went unacknowledged by the chair umpire, but received a few whistles from the crowd—was the latest in a familiar tug-of-war dynamic between Tsitsipas and his team, which includes father and longtime coach, Apostolos, and mother Julia, a former WTA pro.

While the trio has worked with several coaches outside the family—Tsitsipas recently added Mark Philippoussis to his team this year—the player’s parents are a constant presence on the sidelines during matches, though sometimes doing more harm than good.

Tsitsipas has racked up multiple code violations throughout his career for receiving unsolicited coaching advice from his father—including one infamous moment which saw a Greek-speaking umpire, Eva Asderaki-Moore, specifically assigned to monitor Tsitsipas’ player box to catch Apostolos in the act. And in one ATP Cup match in 2020, Tsitsipas accidentally struck his father while smashing his racquet in frustration—earning a mid-match scolding from his mother.

Former world No. 1 Jim Courier, who watched the latest incident go down as he called the match for Tennis Channel alongside Brett Haber, said he felt “empathy” for Tsitsipas’ situation.

“My main takeaway from this is a little bit of a feeling of empathy for Stef Tsitsipas,” he told Steve Weissman and Andy Roddick on TC Live. “Things that are out of his control are impacting him. His family, they’re so invested in his success. They want so much for him, they want to help him from the sidelines, but they’re just hurting him. And it’s hurting his chances to play good tennis.

“You saw how he threw his serve away with two double faults [in the third set]. He got lost in the match when his parents started jawing at each other. I just feel for the kid. Because Stef seems like a good guy to me, and he’s said time and time again he doesn’t want the input from the bench. But they give it to him anyway.

“It seems like they need a therapy session to figure it all out. Because they all want the same. They want their kid to do well, of course they do, but it’s just not working. The way it’s going about right now, it’s hurting him more than it’s helping."

Tsitsipas ultimately lost the match 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 as Rublev found and maintained a higher gear, although afterward seemed to dismiss the Russian’s victory because his opponent’s game lacked “tools”.

With his second round robin defeat of the week, Tsitsipas was eliminated from Turin semifinal contention as Rublev moved on to face Casper Ruud.