AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 17, 2024

Stefanos Tsitsipas

Press Conference

S. TSITSIPAS/J. Thompson

4-6, 7-6, 6-2, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: We'll go straight into questions.

Q. It's always tough to play an Australian here. How happy were you to get through that match?

STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: What was the question?

Q. Playing an Australian, how did you feel at the end of the match?

STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: There came a moment where things weren't looking at my favor. There started to be a slight shift in the momentum, especially after that break when I was serving for the match. This really doesn't happen very often. I haven't had a lot of times in my career where I wasn't able to close the match, especially when I was serving for it.

For me the challenge there was to not break down. I feel like it would be easy to be the guy that becomes a victim of that. But I refused that to myself because I know deep inside that I'm way better than that, and I can handle situations, difficult situations, because of my past and the things that I went through.

This might seem a mountain to a lot of people, but we're back in equal play. I really executed my game plan tremendously and at the highest peak on the tiebreak, and I was able to keep it going on a very nice flow for me, especially when I got the early mini break in the tiebreaker. I really felt that inner power come out. It really showed in the next few points.

Q. I don't know if you ever practiced with your next opponent, Luca Van Assche, but from what you've seen from him, what do you know of his game?

STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: Who is my next opponent?

Q. Luca Van Assche.

STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: I played with him. He has a good baseline game. He moves very well. He's not the tallest of players, but he can really play well and stay in the rallies. He has good shots.

From what I remember, on the range of, let's say, shorter players that he can really do damage by getting balls back and making play, I need to be consistent and stay strong with him, and the rest will have to be shown on the court.