Erste Bank Open: How fit is Stefanos Tsitsipas? "Don't want to answer this question"
Stefanos Tsitsipas mastered the difficult opening hurdle Jan-Lennard Struff at the Erste Bank Open. The Greek didn't want to talk about his fitness afterwards.
by Michael Rothschädl
last edit: Oct 28, 2020, 08:33 pm
By Michael Rothschädl from the Wiener Stadthalle
The expected tough opening game for Stefanos Tsitsipas at the Erste Bank Open was expected. With Jan-Lennard Struff, a player with whom the Greek has already fought four extremely close matches in the past should wait. As in the last meeting, it should be the fifth in the world rankings who should show the better nerves and turn the game after a lost opening set.
"It was a demonstration of our serve strength, we hit a lot of aces, made a lot of free points with the service," said the 22-year-old after his victory. "Accordingly, there were few rallies, I'm glad that I was still able to play my game better, that I was patient and handled my breakballs very carefully," said Tsitsipas.
Fitness level a mystery
Meanwhile, the Greek is very satisfied with his service, only with his return performance there is still plenty of room for improvement. "I'm on the right track though, it's fun to play against the best out there," said Tsitsipas. When asked what his goals are for the rest of the week in the Austrian capital, the 22-year-old said he just wants to play his best tennis, as always, to get as close as possible to perfection with his game. "But I don't have too much pressure of expectation, I'll play match after match and then see what comes out of it in the end," said the fifth in the world rankings.
But when the Greek was asked how his physical condition was after he visibly had to fight Novak Djokovic in the fifth deciding set of the French Open and subsequently withdrew his start at the ATP 500 event in St. Petersburg, he gave Greeks have a lot of room for speculation. "I don't want to talk about it, the next question please," said Tsitsipas. And due to the few rallies that took place in the match against Warsteiner on Wednesday, the fitness level of the fifth in the world rankings will probably remain a mystery until his next appearance.
In this, Tsitsipas meets the Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, who delivered a strong performance in his first round game and knocked Karen Khachanov out of the tournament in two sets. "He can play great tennis, he has proven that often enough," said Tsitsipas, who even aggressively pushed Dimitrov to be the favorite. "He's in great shape, he's the favorite." And that although the Greek won the French Open quite clearly in three sets against the Bulgarian just a few weeks ago.