THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

June 30, 2022

Stefanos Tsitsipas

Press Conference

S. TSITSIPAS/J. Thompson

6-2, 6-3, 7-5

THE MODERATOR: Stefanos, give us your thoughts on the match out there.

STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: I felt really good from the start. I felt confident with something that I wasn't that confident, let's say, two days ago in my first round match, which was getting that first pop on the return, the depth, having that kind of first ball which gets my opponent out of position. That very much worked today, giving me lots of chances to constantly break or get close to a break. This is something that worked excellently.

Great also management on my serve, being very focused on the spots, always trying kind of new things but not overdoing those things, staying consistent, and finding my spots accurately without overdoing it.

That was definitely something that helped a lot.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Can you tell me what immediately springs to mind when you know you have to play Nick Kyrgios. Can you tell me about the impact Mark is having with you, supporting you at the moment.

STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: Mark?

Q. Mark Philippoussis.

STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: Nick has more matches on me in these courts. He claims to like grass. I think his game is good for the grass.

I am definitely thrilled to be facing him. I respect him a lot, on the court, what he's trying to do. Although he has been a little controversial in the past, I think he's playing good tennis.

I'm going to try and concentrate on doing my thing and pay attention to my own game from start to finish. Hopefully I can stay there and do something great, have a great competitive match against him.

Mark is someone that I know since a long time now. We've been collaborating in the past a little bit. He's a good friend of ours. We also speak the same language. I think there's good connection with him, which matters a lot. Not only on the tennis court, but I think he has good values as a person. Obviously we respect him a lot.

We also like being around him as a family, the Tsitsipas family. He has been a very good friend. He happened to be at Wimbledon. We've been seeing him in other Grand Slams, too.

My dad offered him to be next to us. That's how it's going so far. Nothing more. Nothing less.

Q. On Mark, he's obviously someone that did very well here, used his serve to great effect. You mentioned kind of the work you did with your serve today. Is that something he's been specifically working with you on?

STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: I've been teaching him the serve a bit more. That's how it works this week (smiling). He's been following my advice very precisely. I've seen a big difference on his precision in practice. He's actually quite thrilled. He was actually thinking also maybe he might want to rejoin the ATP Tour and start a second career these days.

Q. I wanted to do something a little different. I wanted to ask you to think about the different strokes in men's tennis, and who is the best at different strokes, starting with who has the best serve in this era?

STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: Are we looking for aces?

Q. Who has the most effective weapon.

STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: We can make it quick. John Isner. Forehand, Juan Martin del Potro. Backhand, Novak Djokovic.

Q. Return?

STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: Return, Novak Djokovic. Volley? No one comes to mind.

Q. Movement?

STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: Diego Schwartzman.

Q. Finally mental toughness?

STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: Rafael Nadal.

Q. When you see someone like Maxime Cressy have a lot of success serving and volleying every time he can, even on second serves, do you feel that's something you'd like to move toward in your game here, that it might suit your game well?

STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: Like every point?

Q. What do you think?

STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: Every point?

Look, I think he's difficult opponent to face. I faced him at the US Open few years ago. He's a very difficult guy to play against. He hits both serves full power, which shows he has no fear when he's playing.

But his game, in my opinion, is very risky. If he's on a great day, he can pretty much beat anybody I think. He really brings the margin even lower of what, let's say, a safe spot would be. But I do respect that a lot for him, you know, trying to play that way because no one really does these days.

His net coverage is great. I think he's practicing that every single day for a lot of hours. Kind of being able to maintain that isn't easy. So there's plenty of volley exercises that he does to be able to play the next shot after the serve.

But he's also a tall guy. He's not someone who is 160 tall. So obviously there's a small fair advantage there for him.

I think he realized that's the best way for him, and he's just committed to it. He's very committed. I don't think he has fear when he plays, even if it might come to a tight moment he always does the same thing.

But, yeah, he's very brave in many ways when he plays.

Q. Would you like to do a little bit more?

STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: Serve and volley?

Q. Yes.

STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: I would, yes. I did it a few times today. Not that many. Probably we can count them on my fingers. But I could probably increase that by 30%, I think.

Q. We see quite a lot in tennis when the player is coached by their parent, there can be a bit of a challenge bringing in another expert coach. I know you know Mark very well. You also have Thomas Enqvist this year. Can you talk about from your experience what it's been like bringing in someone else.

STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: I didn't bring anyone inside my team. Mark is welcome to come sit with us, be with us, eat with us, come join us in my practice sessions, to be also hitting with me, which I really like, to give advice. I'm open to listen to any kind of tennis legend giving little bits of advice that I might use and utilize.

Yeah, it's great that it came from my father. Sometimes it's difficult having that relationship, as you said. But I'm very glad he did that himself and I didn't push anything myself.

I was more than happy to have Mark next to us these past few days. I don't really feel there's a negative side to it. He's an absolutely great guy. He has a very good visual of the game. I mean, he has played hundreds of matches himself. He has been faced with hundreds of scenarios and situations on court.

He knows the tennis psychology part, let's say, a bit more than probably my father who, as a coach, hasn't played on the tour, but obviously has other strengths as a coach. That can also contribute to one's, let's say, perspective on the court and help him increase his chances of what he's trying to do out there.

Q. As you know, plenty of people focus on Nick's individuality and his personality. I'd like to ask you about your own. What do you consider the defining aspects of your personality?

STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: I would say my mentality is pretty strong. If I fall down, I'll always get up and work hard. I never really have these days where I'm saying, I don't want to practice today. I feel like other players would have that a bit more often than I do. If I fall down, I always get up, one thing to get stronger.

There's also part, as you said, individuality in it that I also have. It's that kind of discipline that I carry with me. I think discipline, dexterity, mental toughness. In my best days when I play, I feel like I can read the game well and get creative on court. Not as much as probably Roger Federer, which sometimes I watch his matches and he's just all over the place doing crazy stuff, which for me is like another level.

I do have sometimes, let's say, that fluidity on the court where I'm very flexible coming to the net, not being too tight and too much set on one thing and one thing only, let's say.

Q. You played Nick two weeks ago in Halle. Will you change anything? Can you change anything?

STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: You just go out on the court hoping to have a good match, hoping to be able to get balls back, be precise with your shot selection. That comes with good preparation. The rest will hopefully follow if you're able to approach that with the right mindset.

Let's just say it's a different day, it's a different match.