“Made Me Feel Very Uncomfortable”- Stefanos Tsitsipas Makes Raw Admission About His Past Relationship, Sparking Paula Badosa Speculations
Stefanos Tsitsipas’ breakup with Paula Badosa last year has continued to add differing narratives to what first appeared to be an amicable separation. Aryna Sabalenka, Badosa’s best friend, laughed with relief at the news, while Tsitsipas’ mother spoke about how difficult all the attention had been for her son. Later, Badosa used the word ‘toxic’ to describe her ex, and now Tsitsipas’ recent comments have added another perspective to the thread.
Speaking at a press conference in Almaty ahead of his next match against James Duckworth, Tsitsipas was asked about dating another tennis player. While he did not mention Paula Badosa by name, his comments were quickly read as a reference to the Spaniard and went viral.
“I feel like it keeps me calmer, it keeps my head clear and keeps my life more private and having a private life for me is the most important thing,” Tsitsipas said in the press conference. “I was never a fan of being in the public eye especially when I’m with someone. I’m a private person and that made me feel very uncomfortable.”
He added that he had never shared this before, and that he believes “not everything should be shared with the whole world.” He simply doesn’t thrive in that kind of environment.
Well, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Paula Badosa were the “it” couple for a while, dating for almost two years from May 2023 to around July 2025. It began at the 2023 Italian Open, when Tsitsipas messaged Badosa after her win over Ons Jabeur. They went viral at that year’s French Open, when fans worked out they were together, and made it official on social media soon after. By that point, fans had already noticed that they both appeared in each other’s Spotify profile pictures and shared a joint playlist.
Fans even gave them a moniker, ‘Tsitsidosa,’ and they shared a joint Instagram account and were often seen at each other’s matches. The two also worked with Tennis Channel on videos and mini-documentaries that followed their holidays, including a trip to Iceland. They briefly split up in May 2024 but got back together after a few weeks. Though, that did not happen after the 2025 split, with the Greek also finding a new partner.
The first split came in early May 2024. Badosa announced the break on Instagram, writing that they were parting as friends with great respect and comparing their story to that of Maria Sharapova and Grigor Dimitrov, where two people can be right for each other at the wrong time.
But photos of them holding hands in Monte Carlo and having dinner in Paris soon fed talk of a reunion. Tsitsipas confirmed it to Greek outlet SDNA ahead of Roland Garros, saying he was the one who had called the break because the pressure of the tour made combining it with a relationship feel like a mountain, and that after two or three weeks he realised how much support she had given him. Badosa said at the same tournament that one thing they had not liked was that the relationship was “very public,” and that they wanted to keep things more to themselves this time.
At that Roland Garros, where they were due to play mixed doubles together, Tsitsipas spoke warmly about dating a fellow pro. After beating Daniel Altmaier in the second round, the then world No. 9, fresh from winning Monte Carlo, called having a partner who shares your passion and can talk tennis comfortably “a breath of fresh air.” He said Badosa knew the game well and analysed it well, that they talked equipment and strategy, that she kept saying she wished she had his forehand, and that he sometimes envied her returns.
The 2025 split came to light right after both exited in the first round at Wimbledon. Sources close to the couple told ¡Hola! that a bad run of form and injuries had taken their toll, with no third parties or family involved. Only weeks earlier, they had been pictured on holiday in Ibiza. Their plan to play the revamped US Open mixed doubles together never came off, with Badosa partnering with Jack Draper before withdrawing injured and Tsitsipas stepping away from the event.
However, Tsitsipas was careful to say that his view was not a rule against dating a fellow player, adding that it was no excuse for staying away from someone, since a person who truly cares would go to great lengths to be with their partner. But Tsitsipas, who called himself a creative person, said he likes to leave his own world behind when he is not in it, and that this is hard to do next to someone who does exactly what he does.
“But you do realize over the one thing that I personally felt is that it’s too much. There’s a lot of anxiety, there’s a lot of uncertainty and my whole life almost like duplicates around tennis when in fact I want to be more in control of what I want to do in my life and how I want to live my life. I have preferred a life where I’m with someone that is not in the same field or in the same profession as me,” Tsitsipas added.
It was not the first time he had touched on the subject this year. In April, asked in a Q&A video whether he would rather date a tennis player or someone outside the sport, he picked the latter without hesitation, saying that “there’s always competitiveness.” Badosa left four laughing emojis under the post.
Badosa has spoken about the relationship, too. After beating Coco Gauff 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 in the round of 16 at the Berlin Open, she said she had been through many breakups and accepted them, but that toxic things around one made everything much harder than a normal breakup.
She added she had been in a good environment for a few months and felt strong again, then joked that she wanted to see the next day’s headlines claiming she had attacked Tsitsipas. “Well, he deserves it!” she concluded.
Her close friend Aryna Sabalenka later told Ben Rothenberg’s Bounces that when Badosa told her about ending things, she sent a two-minute voice message of laughing and screaming, “Yes, girl! You made it!”
Ara reported Badosa later adding that there was more behind the split than injuries and that she wanted to turn the page. Before her opening match against Emma Navarro at Wimbledon, she said she had suffered a lot for a year, that what she and the people around her went through was very difficult, and referred to him only as “The person I will not mention again”.
Tsitsipas took a softer line when asked about it. In an interview with Matchpoint247, he said he held no grudge: “I have no reason to hate anyone,” wishing her the best in her career and in life. He praised her tennis and her personality on court, acknowledged how hard her injuries had been, and said he hoped they could keep things cordial on tour. He also admitted that he had lost himself during his bad spell and said things on court that were not like him, adding that peace and quiet was what he needed most.
The Greek is currently dating Kristen Thoms since January 2026, a relationship they made public through a vlog from a trip to Namibia. She is a 29-year-old former American collegiate tennis player. After stepping away from tennis, Thoms graduated with a media and communication degree and has now transitioned into modeling, content creation, and sports marketing.
And the former world No.3’s mother has also approved the relationship, stating that Thoms has provided a great deal of emotional stability in Tsitsipas’ life. In a May interview, Yulia Salnikova also said she felt as though she had “known her for 90 years,” describing Thoms as a sweet girl who understands tennis, played at college, and has built her own career in marketing and representation. She added that the two write actual letters to each other, something her son had always dreamed of in a relationship.
On the Badosa years, she has said they were a good couple but that the constant photos, social media, and media attention slowly wore on him, and that “it became a burden” because he was trying too hard. In December 2025, she had already told Sports.ru the relationship was “difficult from the start” since it was long-distance and both were injured, with Badosa unable to play at all because of her back when they got together. She also dismissed reports that the pair had considered retiring together as “completely fictitious.”
Badosa’s coach, Pol Toledo, answered the mother’s comments in May, saying the Tsitsipas family talks too much about Badosa and that Tsitsipas struggled to accept that “the woman shone brighter than the man in the relationship.” He added that Badosa had to put up with certain things.
That said, Tsitsipas’ latest comments come amid a revival of his season. After falling to No. 42 in February, his lowest ranking since 2018, Tsitsipas has rebuilt his form. The journey began in Gstaad and carried over to the US Open. It continued during his Asian Swing as well. He has now also reached the quarterfinals in Almaty.
