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THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

July 2, 2018

Stefanos Tsitsipas

Wimbledon, London, England

S. TSITSIPAS/G. Barrere

6-3, 6-4, 6-7, 7-5

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. How did you rate that today, your performance?
STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: There were a lot of emotions during the match. I think most of the people saw that. I was, to be honest, I was a bit nervous in the beginning. It was my first Wimbledon as a seeded player.

There were a lot of expectations from people and from the fans and everyone who came to support me today. So it started pretty well. Although despite being nervous, I started pretty well. I played good tennis from the beginning. Broke him, like, had one break in each set. Was leading 2-Love up, and then I start thinking too much. You know, and when I think too much, things tend to go not the way I want them to go.

So I just had to keep the tempo at that moment and I was thinking too much. Things turned out to be worse at the end. I got broken back. I mean, of course a little bit of luck involved in the tiebreak. You can't do anything about it.

Fourth set was brilliant from my side. I stayed calm, positive, and down to earth. So it helped a lot to win the fourth set by behaving this way.

Q. You talked about the more expectation and pressure now. How do you manage that?
STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: Well, I think it's normal when someone is, you know, seeded, has good results in the past in some tournaments. You know, people expect for him to do certain results with certain players, good players.

It's tougher to deal with it sometimes, but sometimes you just need to forget it, just need to stay humble and remember how you started and doesn't matter if you're seeded or playing as the last person in the main draw.

Q. To get a first win at Wimbledon in the main draw, how does that feel?
STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: Spectacular (smiling). I think it's obviously a dream of every single player I believe out there who wants to be participated at Wimbledon, and I'm super excited that this year I'm seeded high ranked. It's a dream come true. To be winning at Wimbledon and playing good tennis and enjoying it, not always but sometimes, when I'm playing good, I'm enjoying it the most. So playing at Wimbledon, it's just the best.

Q. Can you tell us a little bit about how you have come to love the grass so much? Have you played on it a lot through your junior days? And your style today was a lot of serve and volley, a lot of net play. Has that been like a consistent effort? Is that something you look forward to doing more of on this surface?
STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: Well, I'm a tall player, have a good serve, and coming to the net is a very good mix with my game. So it fits well with my game. I'm tall, have a good serve, good baseline strokes, groundstrokes, and coming to the net can solve a lot of problems sometimes, you know. Put pressure to the opponent. Have him think where he's going to return.

Well, yeah. I have been working a lot on grass. It's very important that I had a lot of matches at the beginning of the season on grass after clay court, that I had a lot of matches against good opponents. So I had a very good preparation playing against them.

I believe it's very important to have these kind of matches before such a big event like Wimbledon. So I have been working on the serve and volley, on my serve a lot, and on my second serve, as well. On grass you've got to stay aggressive. So I will try to, you know, work as much as I can on the next day so I can be well prepared for my next match.

Also, return plays a big important role in my game. If I manage to return well, it's gonna solve a lot of problems, as well. I'm going to have -- I can put pressure like this to the opponent and make him think twice before he plays somewhere. So return is a key factor on the game.

Q. Were there any grass courts in Greece growing up?
STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: None (smiling). Only at the fields where the cows were. Maybe.

Q. You enjoy diving a lot. I think you are the guy enjoys diving the most on tour.
STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: I actually --

Q. On clay and grass?
STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: Yeah, in Estoril, that's right. To be honest with you, I don't actually do it to impress or anything. I'm so much focused when it comes to winning a point, and Estoril was a very important point. I think it was 4-3, or 3-All in the tiebreak so was very important moment.

So what I remember the guy passing me cross and I said to myself, You've got to hit this one. There is no way -- he didn't just pass you like this.

So I just put 100% of effort to dive and jump and whatever and hit the volley. So it was actually very important point that one. The guy was -- he was just -- I won seven points. After this shot, I think I won four points in a row. I went up 4-3.

But that's clay season. But the grass, yeah, grass -- I mean, the surface is softer, you know. It's not like hard court or clay. You cannot break a bone or something, so it's different on grass. Many players have been diving in the past like Boris Becker, Pete Sampras sometimes.

On grass courts, it fits well. If you're coming to the net, approaching to the net, it can get you out of trouble sometimes.

Q. You have a very peculiar way of getting into a trance, concentrate. Because from your entourage there is a lot of shouting in Greek, in Russian.
STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: Yeah.

Q. What tricks do you use to get yourself into a trance, concentration-wise?
STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: Well, just I would say focus on the present and not think too much of the future or the past what happened before and stay concentrated on every point I played. It's an opportunity for me to win the point, and I'm just trying to find solutions, how I can open the court well, approach, serve well.

So being calm when I play is very important. Sometimes it's not easy because there is a lot of tension, people shouting expectations from your team to do a little bit better. But at the end, staying calm and positive is the most important thing for me. Just helps me play so much better.

Q. Can you shut down, or do you still hear from your father, your mother?
STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: Depends on the situation. If, let's say, there are some moments where I feel more like close to myself, some other moments where everything is maybe just going not the way I wanted to go, and there might be, you know, like complaints from my side, I might start complaining or shouting. But I think it's -- I just think it's human. Yeah.

Q. In the past months you have improved a lot your ranking. Which part of your game do you think improved the most?
STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: Well, my concentration, for sure. My serve, I have matured a lot when it comes to dealing with the serve, opening the court well, seeing the position of where my opponent is staying.

I think it all comes with experience. I had a lot of matches from a very young age. During my junior transition, from juniors to pros, I did play at the same time pros, so it was very important that I started playing professional level when I was playing juniors. I got all of this experience to slowly, slowly understand what's happening was the difference between pro and junior.

So I would say it's also experience a lot involved in there. I have worked, I mean, obviously hard. I have a new team now, team from the Mouratoglou Tennis Academy. I'm surrounded by good coaches, good physios, good fitness coaches. I'm in a very good environment and these people helped me be a better player.

I mean, groundstrokes, I mean, I'm more mature. I know how to deal with situations better sometimes than what I used to in the past, so a lot of experience. Experience, I would say.

Q. Your podcast, I enjoy it. Is it kind of just a refreshing, creative outlet, something for you to do to take your mind away from tennis? Are you going to do it here at Wimbledon, or are you too focused on playing right now?
STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: Yes, it is something that relaxes me. Yeah, A Greek Abroad. It's a nice way of having communication with the fans, you know, get the people to know you a little better of what kind of person you are, personality-wise, and it's a nice way to spend some time doing something else, not playing tennis.

And what was the other question? If I'm going to make any -- depends. Depends. I'm trying to stay as concentrate as possible in this tournament.

So just trying to stay in the present, as I said, and not think too much of doing other things. Yeah.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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