Patrick Mouratoglou has outlined two parts of Stefanos Tsitsipas’ game that have improved off the back of his best-ever US Open run.

For quite some time now, Tsitsipas has slid down the ATP Tour rankings, with the Greek dropping outside the top 40 for the first time in eight years earlier in 2026.

Following his split from father and coach Apostolos Tsitsipas, the 28-year-old dropped down to 88th in the rankings, as the 6ft 4in player struggled for match wins.

However, there was a ray of light in New York this month as Tsitsipas made it to the fourth round of the US Open for the first time, beating 10th seed Arthur Fils and 18th seed Jiri Lehecka along the way.

The two-time major finalist was well beaten by eventual finalist Ben Shelton, but his part-time coach Mouratoglou stressed there were a lot of positives to take from his efforts at Flushing Meadows.

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According to Serena Williams’ former coach, Tsitsipas’ self-talk during matches is now more positive, his slice is more effective, and he is making progress with the help of his main coach, Thomas Perrin (a coach from Mouratoglou’s academy).

Mouratoglou said on his YouTube channel, “So what was done was? First of all, come to the match with a good plan, and I think he had a very good plan. I’m talking about strategically. And second, make sure he would compete well.

“And I think the way he was talking to himself in the previous weeks was not the ideal way because I was looking at the matches, and from the start to the end, he was a better player at the start than he was at the end.

“And this is a sign that the player is not talking to himself in a way that lifts his level up, but drags himself down. And he was able to change the way he was talking to himself during that match.

“We spoke about it before. That was key, and it was key that he kept doing this throughout the whole tournament. And the last key is his slice backhand, which is something that he was not using that much.

“I think in the past, his slice backhand was floating a little bit. He made incredible progress there. And the fact that he was able every time to slice very low, very fast, very deep, and was giving him the chance to run around his backhand and use his forehand more often. So that was also one very tactical asset to his game.”

For a while in his opener against Cincinnati champion Fils, Tsitsipas looked down and out. The 22-year-old, who had a 5-0 record against his opponent, was a set and a break up against the Greek and seemed to be cruising towards the second round.

But Tsitsipas turned the tables on the young Frenchman and earned a hard-fought four set win. Now, Mouratoglou is hopeful he can take this good form into the Asian Swing.

“The draw was extremely difficult. I’m happy Stefanos beat two top-20 players and made his best result at this US Open, but more than anything, I’m happy about his progress,” he said.

“I think he made very good progress because he’s very focused, he’s working hard, and I’m also proud of the way he competed, which was also something that was a bit missing in the previous month and even weeks, because he competed extremely well.

“I think something clicked during this US Open, and I’m happy to see that. I’m sure that he’s going to bring this new Stefanos to the next tournaments and the Asian Swing and the whole indoor season.”

Tsitsipas is up to 44th in the world but he will be hoping to crack the top 10 again, a place he called his home between 2019-2023.