ROLEX MONTE-CARLO MASTERS

April 14, 2023

Stefanos Tsitsipas

Press Conference

T. FRITZ/S. Tsitsipas

6-2, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions in English.

Q. Stefanos, can you tell us a little bit about the match and what was missing today?

STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: I just seemed off. My serve was not working very well today, and against opponents like Taylor, you have to serve well.

I was aware of that during the match. I just couldn't find the rhythm.

I am much better than this, and I'm disappointed I was not able to show my game today. I tried to fight on the second set.

It's a good lesson. It's not a happy day for me, but it's a good lesson.

Q. Would you say it's just a day where you were off and it has nothing to do because it's the first tournament on clay for you after a long season?

STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: I wouldn't say so. I mean, after Australian Open my results haven't been very good. I haven't played a lot of matches. I think I can count them on my fingers the amount of matches that I have played, and I'm pretty sure they are six or seven since Australian Open.

This injury on my shoulder didn't really give me opportunity to build up a momentum and rhythm. I have been thinking about it, you know, how I could have gained points playing in Acapulco, perhaps playing healthy in Indian Wells and Miami, and these are the tour tournaments that I was actually aiming for, because these are big tournaments, they can give you a lot of points to add to your confidence and keep building on the race to Turin, which is important to me. I never look at the overall ranking, because I don't really care about it. I think race to Turin is the best ranking that you can sort of have your eyes on.

Yeah, it's a tricky one. I mean, you know, there are players out there that will play their best to beat me. They know how well I can play on clay and they are really hungry, and I feel like maybe sometimes they have nothing to lose so they really it out there. I don't know if that's expression, but they play out of their skin to give the best chance to themselves out there.

Yeah, I was really looking forward for good result today. You know, semifinals is the round that start giving you a lot of points and I really wanted that, but unfortunately it didn't go my way.

Q. Do you think Fritz has a style of play that can bother anyone on clay because he's not used to be so good on clay, but...

STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: Well, it's certainly I guess trickier for the Americans to play on red clay. They are not really used to it. But Taylor seemed great out there. He played great tennis.

You know, I was kind of surprised how he was able to control the ball so well, because I genuinely think my topspin is pretty heavy. I have heard other people say that. I don't know. I'm very confident when I see my shot come over the racquet like this. I see a person like him control the ball and navigate it down the line on the line a few times in a row, so I had to adjust there and change something.

Didn't really seem like it was working, but anyhow, it is what it is. I just hope for a good result in the next few weeks, because I want to finish in the top four by the end of the year.

Q. Can you explain a little bit more what you said about the U.S. clay, about the thing you write on the camera about U.S. clay? What does it really mean?

STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: My message was that red clay in the U.S. is a unicorn on a skateboard. It doesn't really exist. That was my message.

I have had this discussion with a friend of mine recently about clay courts in the U.S., and we were talking about it, how everything is just promoted through hard courts, everything is played on hard courts. I'm not some sort of advocate that I want to be going out there promoting red clay, but I would certainly like to see it in more places around the world, maybe Asia as well. I don't know if Asia is big on red clay. I don't think so.

But I have spoken about how I like the idea of ATP sort of having more tournaments on clay and the grass, because these are very good for your body. I think a lot of players would agree with me on that, that we can have longer careers by playing on these surfaces, that most injuries in fact come from hard courts, and they have a lot of -- they put a lot of weight on your body when you spend September almost all the way to, what are we now, March? Sorry, April. All the way until March you're playing on hard courts, pretty much.

Yeah, that's it.

Q. You mentioned injury on your shoulder. What is the problem? Is it a biomechanical issue or what is the reason?

STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: There are a few things. We don't really know. No one really knows.

It's just that I would have never pictured myself dealing with such an injury. It would have been perhaps the last thing that I could think of when it comes in terms of injury with tennis. It's probably the worst injury that I had on the tennis court so far.

Well, yeah, my arm generally, I have tried to change a few things in terms of my, the way I -- you know, all these weights and all these stringing patterns, whatever, to help my arm, because it's the most important thing for me in the next 15 years. I'm trying my best to keep it as healthy as possible.