French Open: Stefanos Tsitsipas - "Dominic Thiem inspired me"
Stefanos Tsitsipas will play his third round match at the French Open on Friday. After his success against Hugo Dellien, the Greek made a cheerful appearance in the press conference. Why Dominic Thiem inspired him.
by Jens Huiber
last edit: May 31, 2019, 10:36 am
By Jens Huiber from Paris
Greece, which results in a quick search in this crazy internet, can currently boast three active volcanoes. The last notable outbreak was the Santorini in 1928, but unfortunately many people were injured at the time. On the tennis court, Stefanos Tsitsipas often looks like lava flows are just waiting for the right opportunity to break out of it - only to leave it with a snort of sulfur. Small tests for your own (racket) and general (net post) material included.
It is all the more remarkable how Tsitsipas behaves away from the court, for example at the press conference after his four-set win against the Bolivian Hugo Dellien. The American invented the beautiful combination of words "soft spoken" for this, and in fact nobody is more flattering than the 20-year-old Athenian. In his few months on the ATP tour, Stefanos Tsitsipas, too, heard every possible question in slight variations, but took over the gift from the greats of his trade to answer even the most banal inquisitions with the required seriousness. And all in a pitch that Costa Cordalis never had.
Referees complain about father Tsitsipas
The louder part of the family - industry insiders have known this for a long time, Stefanos also confirmed this in front of the assembled press choir - that was Father Apostopolus. He had said not so long ago that it was an honor to coach his son. Stefanos returned the compliment. With slight restrictions. "Sometimes he talks a lot. He can't help it, ”said the current number six in the world. "I've said that to him many times. The referees complain to me that he should be calmer. But we are working on it right now, and hopefully he will act a little more mature in the future and not talk as much. ”Which does not detract from mutual love.
Stefanos Tsitsipas also found inspiration elsewhere - with brand colleague Dominic Thiem . He was inferior to that in the second round last year. In a match where the lava in Tsitsipas was already well above the preheating temperature. However, the Greek would not have come this far if he had not taken much with him from this encounter with Thiem.
Learned a lot from Dominic Thiem
"He played incredibly, I can tell you," said Tsitsipas. "I played against all the boys on clay, but in this match there was a moment when Dominic destroyed everything on the court. So I learned that there are people who can play tennis at this level. That was great to watch. ”He then wanted to play like Thiem, which is surprising in that he defeated the Austrian in Barcelona a few weeks earlier. And there were no big gestures of friendship when saying goodbye.
# BETATHOMEFO #
“Dominic inspired me because, after Roger Federer, he was one of the first one-handed backhand players to hit Nadal on sand. It's nice to have a player like him on the tour who you can watch and from which you can learn something from time to time. ”