Recoiling from a first-round Wimbledon exit in late June, the ATP No. 6–ranked star Stefanos Tsitsipas turned to literature.

Tsitsipas stumbled out of the gates at SW19 against Thomas Fabbiano, who would follow up his upset victory by besting Ivo Karlovic (also in five sets) before acquiescing to Fernando Verdasco in straight sets.

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Perhaps the literary No. 1 on tour, Tsitsipas found that he had some soul-searching to do after the abrupt departure. He took to a work of fiction, a novel, and to a book about Roger Federer, whose game he greatly esteems. He even locked himself in a room to do the reading.

Call it a self-imposed Count of Monte Cristo situation.

In his return to tour, Tsitsipas has seen fairly encouraging results. He moved through the Citi Open draw in Washington, D.C., falling to doubles partner Nick Kyrgios in three dramatic sets that included, for the Greek, both a match point and a footwear fiasco, as seen above.