Some children have their favorite blankets, adored items they cling to when they’re feeling vulnerable.
Others grab a hold of their special stuffed animals or sprint to their toy trucks when they need a moment alone.
When Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas was a boy, he had a toy towel.
“I have sort of like a history with the towel. I used to have a towel when I was three, four years old, and I would always carry it around. It was like my toy, basically,” he said, smiling.
“The towel resembles something special in my life.”
Tsitsipas’ long history with the towel is experiencing a new chapter at the 2020 US Open.
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, players have to fetch their own towels. Gone, at least for now, are the days of ball people scurrying off to grab a sweaty towel, delivering it to a player, and then handling the towel once more after the player has wiped more perspiration on the cloth.
"“The towel resembles something special in my life.” — Stefanos Tsitsipas
The 22-year-old Tsitsipas and other young players have experienced life without ball people. Past editions of the 21-and-under Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan have had players grab their own towels, as well.
“It does provide us some sort of amount of comfort,” Tsitsipas said of the towel. “It's not very comfortable playing all sweaty and having sweat drip from your face and get to your eyes. Having it there is very important for us.”
The fourth-seeded Greek, like other players, has grown accustomed to having speedy ball people rush from corner to baseline, carrying an unfolded towel in their arms.
“I use my towel a lot when I play,” he said. “It gives me time to think, gives me time to refresh myself and think about my tactics.”
But he, like the rest of the world during this pandemic, is learning how to cope in the absence of regular life.
“The biggest struggle with the towel is when you want to use it before returning, and that's a big concern, because I would like to use it more often, but I can't really because I'm disrupting my opponent's rhythm,” he said.
If the towel remains Tsitsipas’ biggest concern this fortnight, he will have enjoyed his best stay in Flushing Meadows yet.
