ROLAND GARROS

June 2, 2023

Stefanos Tsitsipas

Press Conference

S. TSITSIPAS/D. Schwartzman

6-2, 6-2, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Well done, Stef. Did you expect such an easy scoreline against Diego today?

STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: No, never. I came into the match knowing that I might be playing a small guy but, in fact, his shot-making and the way he moves throughout the court is incredible.

Despite him not having the biggest of shots and the most amount of power, I knew that I was dealing with something, you know, demanding. It took a lot of work to accept and work on that challenge.

It wasn't easy playing against him. It's never easy playing against him, in fact. I need to be very much in the zone to get my decisions right and also to kind of start building momentum and building patience like a monk.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. In the next round you will be playing Sebastian Ofner. What do you know of him and what do you expect?

STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: I watched a little bit of his match against Fabio Fognini. I know that clay court suits him well. He can play well on this surface. He has had good results in the past on clay courts. He might not be the guy who you see very often in Masters 1000 tournaments and 500s in terms of going deep and playing and beating top guys, but I'm sure he's on a good streak right now, he's feeling good with his tennis.

In order for him to be playing at a fourth round of a Grand Slam, that means he's been consistently delivering every two days, and that definitely a very different, separate challenge of what I'm used to, kind of playing guys that they have been around.

But, yeah, I'm going to approach it with seriousness and professionalism.

Q. You didn't speak very highly of your performance in the first-round match. You were pretty dismissive of your level. Today you played pretty differently. It sounds like you're pleased with your performance. Can you compare the two from the beginning of the tournament to today and explain if there's anything you did during the past few days to get you to where you were today or if it's just one of those things where you wake up and some days you have a good day and some days it's less good?

STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: There are certain matchups in which you have to readjust your game. Less risk involved. More daring shots in some circumstances against different opponents. Against other opponents, you just have to be smart in terms of conservative tennis, you know.

What I'm referring to with that is not necessarily going for big shots or extreme decisions, rational decisions that kind of your opponent -- sometimes it's a mind game, in my opinion. When I play sometimes with certain opponents it's a mind game. I can kind of get into their head what they're thinking and how they want to approach their game towards me. And I give them something different. Sometimes they don't expect it.

So, you know, I don't want to say much based on that, but today was completely different in terms of feeling, in terms of detail when I try to pursue my shots.

It kind of works sometimes. It works on its own. It has its own kind of entity against a certain opponent or a certain player.

Vesely is a completely different player than Schwartzman is. Schwartzman can run all day, he can get balls back, his movement is his biggest strength, he can make it physical, he can make it dirty. He might not serve the biggest and he might not have the greatest serve of all in the game but he compensates that by having a very solid baseline game, which, you know, makes you work for it on every single point on every single occasion.

Q. Most of the top guys, and probably most of the favorites to win this tournament, are still in the draw, but there have been a good amount of upsets both on the men's and women's side. Is that something you're cognizant of, and to what do you attribute some of these earlier surprises?

STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: To which are you referring to?

Q. Just in general.

STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: Upsets are always going to be happening in Grand Slams. First-round upsets very common to see in Grand Slams even by top-seeded players and players sometimes in the top 10. That's the Grand Slam nature. Some players are more prepared than others. Some it kind of takes time for them to get into the game and adjust to this new form of tennis, in which I mean different balls, different surface, different crowds.

You know, upsets, it's a thing. It's happening to everyone. It has happened to most of us on early rounds and we learn through that how to avoid them and how to kind of build a safe net where we can start a little bit more kind of add in terms of risk in our game later on.

Something that has, I feel like Novak Djokovic has been doing very well in terms of his Grand Slam appearances. He has been starting Grand Slams, I wouldn't say playing incredible tennis, but just enough to get him through in the first few rounds.

Q. You told us recently that you think that the psychological aspect of tennis is a big part of the game. So how difficult is it to play like nothing matters at all at the moment when it really does matter?

STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: Yeah, these are two different psychological states. I've produced some really good tennis when I'm at a psychological state of nothing matters and I don't care anymore. And I just want to play it. I don't care what the outcome will be.

And, you know, moments like this, I have broken back. I've suddenly found my rhythm back into the game. I guess there is lack of expectation. There is lack of thought. There is lack of creativity when you're out there, because you're constantly thinking, you're constantly analyzing every decision. And every ball that is thrown at you you have to make a decision. Whether that's cognitive or something else, it's there.

Yeah, sometimes, from my personal experience, when you let go of that, when you kind of -- I don't like using that word because I've never really done it in a tennis match -- when you kind of "tank," for some players it can be very beneficial and help them play better in a way, yeah.