US OPEN

August 31, 2020

Stefanos Tsitsipas

Press Conference

S. TSITSIPAS/A. Ramos-Vinolas

6-2, 6-1, 6-1

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Just a question for you. There are so many things going on at this tournament that are different and strange. I'm trying to focus a little bit on one of them. It's the towel. A lot of your peers love using that towel with the kids running to them with the towel or running away with the towel. Just organize your thoughts. How have you dealt with this towel issue? Does it mean very much to you psychologically?

STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: I use my towel a lot when I play. 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. As it says in the rule book, you should play by your opponent's serve rhythm. Which sometimes, yeah, it's not really cheating, but the opponent is waiting for you before serving.

Yeah, for me, it has huge importance, the towel. I use it very often. It gives me time to think, gives me time to refresh myself and think about my tactics.

So I mostly use it when I serve and when I'm -- yeah, when I serve. That's the most amount of times that I get to use my towel.

Q. Does it give you some physical comfort to have something to hold and touch to your body and kind of clear things off?

STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: It does. Specifically for me the 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 (smiling).

The towel resembles something special in my life. It does provide us some sort of amount of comfort. And also, yeah, 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.

Q. Any good towel story from the tour?

STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: Any good towel story from the tour? Whoa. Like what exactly? What are you expecting me to answer on that? Like what kind of towel story?

Q. Actually I remember Daniil last year yelled at a kid and he got in trouble for it. Those kinds of things. Losing the towel or not bringing it fast enough.

STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: I mean, it can get kind of frustrating sometimes. You're trying to play your best tennis or you're asking for a ball, let's say, and they give you the towel or the opposite way around.

Tennis can get very frustrating, and nerves get in and it's not always easy to keep your cool. But at the same time, you have to have the human side where you've got to be more intimate and show more respect, show better values as a person towards another person.

And we have the ball boys that do a great job providing us with so much, with the balls, with the towels, making our job much easier, and I have a huge respect for them. And being under the heat and having to do so many things, multitasking at the same time, it's one of the most difficult jobs, actually.

I did it when I was young, and it was very confusing. It would get very confusing.

Q. So the towel is kind of a teacher for you?

STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: It is.