AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 21, 2024

Stefanos Tsitsipas

Press Conference

T. FRITZ/S. Tsitsipas

7-5, 5-7, 6-3, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. How did you experience that out there? Taylor was saying he felt like it's a good matchup for him. Just certain kinds of shots he hits, he felt like there were certain things he could do to exploit you. Were you thinking of that going into the match?

STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: Well, what I was thinking is that I have a big match coming up and there's an opponent that I've played before at the Australian Open who likes these courts, and his game is suited for hard courts and he's got a lot of power, he's got a big serve. These were things that I was for sure concerned going into the match and I had to be prepared to face.

I didn't face them the best way, but he played really well and he deserves the win because he did everything possible to kind of not let me dictate or be in control of any point.

I can only, let's say, take that as something that hits me really hard and perhaps awakes me and feeds a little bit my ego.

Q. Apart from the way he played, how would you assess your own performance today throughout the match?

STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: I wish there was much more play involved. I felt like at times there were certain gaps during the match where it was purely just serve and not much to it. I just wish I could rally and create points, get to sort of discover what works best for me through rallies, exchanges.

That kind of threw me off a little bit. There wasn't much that I could mentally work for and visualize when I was playing the match, because it was just a serve, it was a great return. It was that kind of a match.

I wish I was able to find a way to get into those rallies more and kind of get the momentum shifting by winning rallies instead of just sort of defending my way through.

Q. He actually said he thought back to the match two years ago that you played here. After the second set, he thought back to that match. Was that on your mind at all, the fact that you beat him here a couple years ago?

STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: Yeah, it absolutely was, for sure. I consider myself to have a good memory. I remember these moments because that was a very intense match, that I fought four hours and I got the win at the end.

It felt different there, because when I picture it in my mind, we were really battling for it and we had a lot of deep rallies, playing a lot of tense points where it was not just the serve. So it was a very different match, in my opinion, the one that we played back then to the one now. Much faster pace now. Much shorter in terms of points.

Yes, that's the only difference. I just need to make it more physical and longer and more enduring, in my opinion.

Q. When you were waiting to start the fourth set, you were down at the end where your father was, where your box is. They were showing on the screen he was talking to you. What was the message he was trying to give to you?

STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: Well, encouragement, to not have me stop believing in what I'm trying to do out on the court.

No, he's good. I don't remember exactly what it was 'cause I went through a lot of emotions, a lot of things that went through my head during that entire set. I'm not entirely sure what that thing was in particular.

He really wanted me to get into the match. He really wanted to show me that I'm not alone out there, that there's a whole pack behind me, they're out there to give me all their strength and all their courage to keep on going strong, to find a solution at the very end of it.

Q. After a tough loss like this one today, how long do you usually take to move on?

STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: I would probably say a few days. For sure less than a week (smiling). But a few days would be fair. I'll take the time to reflect. I'll take the time to visualize better next time I face against him, to allow myself to have all these emotions sink in and be part of my past, be part of my journey on the tennis court.

It's not a negative feeling. It's a feeling of evolution, of change, which is constant. Change is always constant. One day you're in the top 10, the other day you're not there anymore, so you have to keep on working and allowing yourself to flourish through these experiences, allow yourself to sort of seek for all these moments that have been working for you over the last few years, give it another shot time after time.

It's painful, and the moments of glory are not that many. There's just way more moments in your career that are painful and tough to deal with, suffering and all that stuff, than moments of glory and success and opening champagne bottles. These are a very small percentage of what a tennis player lives on a yearly basis.