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PARIS, France—Stefanos Tsitsipas looked shell-shocked as he sat in the Roland Garros press room on Wednesday evening, once again searching for answers after another early Grand Slam exit.

A finalist here in 2021, Tsitsipas is set to tumble out of the ATP’s Top 20 for the first time in seven years, following his defeat to Italian qualifier Matteo Gigante. Ranked No. 168 in the world, Gigante lived up to his surname, and delivered a giant upset with a 6-4, 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 stunner over the No. 20 seed.

It’s the fourth consecutive major where Tsitsipas has failed to reach the third round—and now alarm bells are ringing for the 26-year-old.

“He handled the pressure moments very well,” Tsitsipas said of 23-year-old Gigante, praising his ‘mature’ play. “I seemed to be playing immature sometimes during the match, and obviously I'm not extremely happy about that.

“So I've got to compartmentalize myself a little bit and try and get back to my old routines, the way I was able to construct certain things and not have things kind of flow out of control the way they did today.”

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Former world No. 3 Tsitsipas is set to leave the Top 20 for the first time in seven years, following his defeat to Italian qualifier Matteo Gigante.

Once one of the ATP Tour’s much-hyped ‘Next Gen’ stars—along with the likes of Alexander Zverev, Andrey Rublev and Daniil Medvedev—tipped to become a successor to Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, Tsitsipas has found himself overtaken by the likes of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner.

He’s previously opened up about struggling with long-term burnout, and this clay-court season has been marred by a nagging lower back injury, which forced him to retire early in the Barcelona quarterfinals against 20-year-old Arthur Fils.

“One thing I have dealt (with) the last couple of years that I wasn't so much facing before were the injuries that popped up,” Tsitsipas admitted. “Psychologically, they did a lot of harm to me.

“There are a lot of different things that kind of came up after those injuries which made me feel a little discomforts—made me lose a little bit of hope in terms of how my body can respond to certain situations and the demands of the tour that are constant…

“I'm just trying to find that balance again of how I can go match after match feeling the freshest that I can and feeling in the best possible shape that I can.”

My experience sometimes kind of stabs me I feel like, instead of utilizing it in a more professional and profound way.

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Between the physical setbacks, and the rise of a newer generation unburdened by expectations, the former world No. 3 admitted that he’s finding it hard to match the intensity of the tour’s newest stars. Still, he’s “optimistic” and determined to fight his way back—as he said in our Tennis.com Quote du jour:

Q. Do you think it was almost easier in some ways when you were coming up and there were fewer expectations around you, whereas now you're a player that has a big reputation players want to beat?

STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: I still want to be the best player in the world and I still want to do great things around this sport that I chose to play. My attention and focus is always to try and improve any aspect of my game.

I'm an optimistic person. I don't want to use any excuses or anything like that, so my entire focus is on how can we come to solutions, solve certain things.

It's a constant puzzle. I'm ambitious, and I want to prove it on the tennis court. Things have definitely changed over the last couple of years, and I know that I find myself in a completely different position now.

I just need to use my experience a little bit more wisely, I would say. My experience sometimes kind of stabs me I feel like, instead of utilizing it in a more professional and profound way.

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Next up for Tsitsipas is the grass-court season. He’s set to return to action at the 500-level Terra Wortmann Open in Halle, which starts on June 16.

As for Gigante, the qualifier will face No. 13 seed Ben Shelton in the third round—as he seeks to extend his best-ever Grand Slam run with a maiden second-week appearance at Roland Garros.