	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

CITI OPEN

July 31, 2019

Stefanos Tsitsipas

Washington D.C.

S. TSITSIPAS/T. Paul

6-3, 7-5

Q. (Question about his shoe.)
STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: Something I'm struggling with during the hard court season. I always have problems with that. It's due to my sliding on the right side, on my forehand side. I tend to turn my shoe a bit more than other players. That's what happens when you overdo it.

Q. You just changed that one shoe?
STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: It actually has happened. I had a match where I had to do it three times. It was quite annoying for my opponent. Thank God it didn't happen today.

Q. Did you talk to adidas?
STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: I'm not sure if it's so much of a brand thing as me. I should improve my footwork.

Q. Talk to Novak about sliding on the court.
STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: I think he also struggles with stuff like that.

Q. How are you feeling first match on hard courts in singles?
STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: I was a bit nervous in the beginning. Didn't know what to expect. I'm really happy that I got through that first match difficulty. It was quite a challenging match.

Q. Were you glad you got the doubles in first?
STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: Yeah, yeah. I think that kind of released some pressure out of me compared to if I wouldn't have played doubles.

Q. Given the hiccup at Wimbledon, a rare early-round loss for yourself, how did that change things if at all? Did you take time off? Does that recharge the batteries here motivation-wise?
STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: I thought about this match a lot. I was locked in my room for a couple of days, three days, in London, just staying there, doing nothing. I was very upset.

After that I went on vacation for almost two weeks. I think that was very important to refuel, recharge my batteries coming in here.

Q. What were you doing in the room for three days?
STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: Reading books, spending time on my computer. Only these two things.

Q. What kind of books?
STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: I was reading an autobiography of another journalist concerning the life of Roger Federer. One really interesting book about him. Also I was reading The Alchemist, yeah.

Q. Which journalist's autobiography?
STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: I don't know. It's journalist that wrote a book about him.

Q. About Federer?
STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: About Federer. The details in there are pretty accurate.

Q. Is it the one that has a lot of images? Is it recent?
STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: I think it's a recent one, yeah.

Q. In other words, you didn't spend the time dwelling on the match, second-guessing what you did or didn't do, going over videotape of the match?
STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: No, I watched couple of highlights of that match. But, no, I didn't really focus too much on it.

Q. The point of moving forward, keep the schedule, lots of matches, play lots of tournaments, or are you going to scale it back a little bit?
STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: Well, I don't know. Not really.

Q. Just keep playing the way you've been?
STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: I will definitely reduce the amount of 250s I'm going to play this year compared to last year. All the focus is going to be on the 500 events, Masters and the Grand Slams.

Q. Nick ended his Instagram saying, See you in Cincinnati. Are you playing there?
STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: Yeah, we are. It was your call.

Q. Was the weather a factor out there? You've been here a few days now playing matches. Adapted to the weather?
STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: Yeah, quite a bit. As you guys know, it's pretty humid here, which is the biggest, yeah, difficulty to be playing. When it's humid, the balls are flying a bit more, if I'm not wrong. The opposite, sorry. They are staying because of the humidity. So far that's the only issue.

Q. Are those conditions at all helpful to prepare for the US Open or is it a disconnect, the weather, the humidity, the heat?
STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: That's part of the tour. Every tournament has different conditions. New York has a lot of humidity, as well. I remember playing there last year almost dying on the court. It's okay.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297