ROLEX MONTE-CARLO MASTERS

April 17, 2022

Stefanos Tsitsipas

Press Conference

S. TSITSIPAS/A. Davidovich Fokina

6-3, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Congrats, Stefanos. How does it feel to defend your first Masters 1000 title?

STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: Unheard of before. First time. It's a great feeling, because we had the crowd this year involved. It was a bit more lively than last year.

I think it's double more special in a lot of ways, starting from of course much more nerve-racking, to have people involved, you have the fans yelling and chanting, but it was a great way to top it off with lots of fighting in the end, you know. Not so much going for clean winners or for too much beautiful tennis, but trying to put in the hard work in every single point and go over the limits, as I like to say.

THE MODERATOR: Questions?

Q. Congratulations, Stefanos. Really well done. Very exceptional feat. With Greece having a representative in the top three in both men's and ladies' tennis, would you think it's time for Greece to go for an ATP tournament to bring tennis home to its fans?

STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: I think it is. I think it is. What can I tell you? I'm not really informed much of when and what, but I'd love to see an event at home. We haven't had one in many years. I think even before I was born or probably the year I was born it finished being held.

I'd like to see an event in Athens, and I'm very sure it's going to be one of the best 250s of the year if it takes place in Athens. I'm very convinced that it will be, because I can picture it in my head.

Q. Congratulations, Stefanos. Well done. I would like to ask you what does it make it special for you to play on clay? Because it looks like your tennis is slightly better when you play on clay compared on even -- I mean, you play good even somewhere else and in a lot of places...

STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: Don't try, don't try. Doesn't sound very good what you just said (smiling).

No, my tennis is great I think everywhere, with clay maybe being the surface that I can adjust the best. You know, I have had moments where I was trying to apply what I apply on clay on hard. Doesn't really seem to be working much. Sometimes it's not really the way to go.

But this has also learned me a lot that I should adjust and I should never really become obsessive that, okay, whatever works on clay should work on faster surfaces.

I had difficulties adjusting to grass because of that, because I was trying in my head to maybe stick that, okay, this is the way I should be also playing on other surfaces.

But I think sometimes it just needs a bit more time for me to really get into it with a lot of practice sessions, with a lot of friendly matches on court.

I strongly believe that I'm able to not just win tournaments on clay but on hard courts and grass court, which is my favorite surface, and which in recent years I haven't really been doing as well as I would have wanted, but it's a goal of mine to get back to it and change the style when I have to play on these courts.

Q. Congratulations. You were dreaming of playing one day here when you were six years old and maybe winning later on. Now, can you tell us if there is still a dream? Because you have been No. 3 in the world. You were in the final of Roland Garros. You won already seven, eight tournaments. So there is still a dream and would you be able to tell us what that dream is? And there is more than one or one that stands up much higher than the others?

STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: I have a surface that I might be adjusting easier to than other surfaces and we know which one that is. My goal ever since I have realized that and come to the realization of that is if I'm able to score points in this surface as much as I can and really concentrate on the other surfaces a bit more, I can really pull off a great year, maybe even finishing among the two best tennis players at the end of the season.

So my mind, in the back of my head, you know, I'm always trying to bring the best I can from clay and adjust accordingly to the other surfaces. I really want to be doing well on hard and grass this year, because I feel like I can really get a lot of points there.

If I'm able to win matches with the same consistency I do on this surface, I think I have a big chance of finishing the year of the top two, which is a huge goal of mine to be finally there and belong in that special group of players.

Q. You are only the sixth man to win back to back this tournament, and the five players who won are pretty good. Maybe you know the names. They all win Roland Garros and they all have been No. 1 in the world. This stat is encouraging, or how do you react to this stat?

STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: It's very encouraging, absolutely. I really want to improve the stat and make it even better (smiling).

Q. Congratulations, Stefanos. Did you expect him to play so well? What was the most difficult part of the match in your opinion?

STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: Well, the most tricky part about playing Alejandro is that he's very unpredictable. He does stuff that you don't really see players do. You don't really know what to expect from him sometimes.

He actually plays better when he's behind the score, when he's down. I knew it would be coming, let's say at 5-4, I knew he was going to relax. I could see it. He seemed to be caring less, which can be a little bit let's say dangerous with him.

That is also the reason he won so many matches this week, I think, and had wins against players that are very much respected in our tennis world, some of them having great success with multiple Grand Slam titles and respected names in the ATP Tour.

So he has a game where he can play from every side backhands, forehands. He serves consistently. Maybe not as good today I think as I have seen him before, but it was his first final.

I knew going in that this is probably going to be something that I have more in the back pocket than he does. I have been in situations like this before. I need to stay well composed and calm, because if I really start letting the nerves flow around too much, then it might not, the outcome of it might not be really good.