THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

July 7, 2023

Stefanos Tsitsipas

Press Conference

S. TSITSIPAS/A. Murray

7-6, 6-7, 4-6, 7-6, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Welcome to the press conference for Stefanos Tsitsipas.

Questions.

Q. You must be really tired.

STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: A little bit. It doesn't come easy, especially when you're playing Andy Murray. He's a marathon man. He likes making it long. He likes being out there for hours and hours. That's also a part of his strength as a tennis player. He has the capacity and the ability to stay for a long duration on the court, making it physical. That was the case today.

Those two sets felt really long. I remember at some point on the fifth, I was thinking it feels like we were playing forever. That's the sensation that I got.

Q. You obviously played two Grand Slam champions in two rounds. How difficult has that been?

STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: That's also the reason I'm doing pre-season, to be able to overcome those matches if they occur.

For me, I'm ready for anything pretty much. Unfortunately I can't plan of how long I want to play. Sometimes I just have to accept of what comes from the other side of the net, try and work around that.

I don't think I've had before two five-setters in a row. You may check that. I don't remember an occurrence like this in the past on the two first rounds of a Grand Slam. I guess there's a first time for everything.

Has been very physical. We've been playing, what, these two rounds for four days now. It's been four days of lots of intensity, just lots of repetition. You have to wake up every morning and do your routines again and again.

Has been sort of a picnic so far. We've been there for a long time.

Q. I can't remember a top player, male player, entering singles, doubles, and mixed. How easy was that?

STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: Mixed is not a thing anymore, thank God. I prefer to live (smiling).

It never crossed my mind that I would be doing all three in a single event. But I also see it from the bright side. You can see it from that side. You like tennis so much, you want to be in these slams for as long as possible. Ideally from the singles draw, you want to be there completing the two-week period the slam allows you to play.

But if you see it from the fun side, you love tennis, you want to challenge yourself in singles, doubles, mixed doubles. I personally like mixed doubles. Some players I've spoken to try and kind of reduce their speed when they have to go to the other gender on the mixed doubles. I play regular, just the way I play my regular doubles.

I've had a few experiences playing mixed. I liked it. Also mainly because my mixed doubles partner was very good. We were able to communicate really well on court.

I love mixing it up sometimes. May be difficult physically, but getting all three is an experience. You can always say I've done it once at least in my life.

Q. You've got a huge amount of experience, Grand Slam matches. The last big one you played here last year on Court 1, it was a hostile environment. You couldn't get through. How much confidence do you take of coming through a similar experience last night and today?

STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: I've played a lot of tennis the last four days. So many sets. I've completed 10 sets. A few more with doubles.

I'm a player that I guess I find my rhythm with sets, with lots of points played, repetitive play. I'm happy that I stay so strong in those difficult challenges that were presented both by Dominic and Andy.

Probably Dominic doesn't have the best bio in terms of grass court performance, although he does have a title on the surface under his belt. I remember he won against a truly respected player, Roger Federer, in the final. He can play.

With Andy, I knew that I was dealing with something way more serious, especially when you're playing with someone that has won here twice, you have a different sort of expectation. They come in with much more knowledge and understanding of how the court reacts to your ball. That was something that I had in the back of my head that he might know the court a little bit better than I do.

I went full in. I was down in the score and kept fighting. I really liked my spirit on the court. I really liked how I showed to myself and my team that I am fully and truly involved in every single point. I'm not looking to stop doing that. I'm happy doing it this way.