Stefanos Tsitsipas

[Bombardiero]

[DUN I LOVE]

Bardzo ciekawy, niegłupi facet. Życzę wszystkiego najlepszego.

[Bombardiero]

[Damian]

Tsitsipas: It's Only The Beginning

Spoiler:

Greek chasing his maiden Grand Slam title at the Australian Open
Stefanos Tsitsipas has had such an impact on the tennis world that we sometimes forget that the young star is, in essence, still a relative newbie.

Felciano Lopez, at 40 one of the Tour’s elder statesmen, made that mistake a few months back when the Spaniard told Tsitsipas he thought he had been on the scene for the better part of a decade.

“He has lost track of time completely,” laughed Tsitsipas on the eve of the Australian Open, site of his first big splash in 2019, when he stunned Roger Federer and became the youngest Grand Slam semi-finalist (20) in a dozen years.

“I feel like I had few good years on the Tour, but I’m kind of in the beginning of it.”

A few good years? Now 23, all he’s done is sweep the Big Three of Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, claim seven titles, including the Nitto ATP Finals in 2019 and the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters in 2021 and climb to a career-high ATP Ranking of No. 3, something he accomplished last year, the same year he reached his maiden major final at Roland Garros.

Tsitsipas finds himself matched up against a familiar opponent at Melbourne Park. For the second straight year, he’ll face good friend and occasional practice partner Mikael Ymer, this time in the opening round.

“We have played together in the juniors for many, many years, so we know each other since the age of 10,” said Tsitsipas, who’s 2-0 against the Swede. “He’s someone that has a very solid game in terms of putting a lot of balls back into the court, very good movement on the court. I’m just going to have to approach this match carefully, the way I always do.”

Beyond Ymer could be 2021 quarter-finalist Grigor Dimitrov in the third round, and eighth seed Casper Ruud in the last eight. However, Tsitsipas says he isn’t looking too far ahead. He knows how tricky those big-stage openers can be.

“The first rounds can be the most challenging ones,” he said. “You don’t know what to expect. Everyone has trained for almost two months prior to the Australian Open. They’ve done pre-season training, fitness training. There has been a lot of change. Most of them I would hope are aiming for a change in their games. It is indeed a very challenging thing to bring your best in the first round. It makes for one of the most difficult rounds in a Grand Slam, for sure.”

His loss to Djokovic in the 2021 Roland Garros final, in which he surrendered a two-sets-to-love lead, was surely a bitter pill to swallow. But the experience should only serve him well moving forward.

“My tactics remain the same. But I’m really going for the long run in every single one of them,” said the Greek. “There is kind of a different mental approach to it because you might be two sets to love up but the match isn’t over yet. The confidence is there. The confidence kicks in in week two. That’s where you can evaluate and move on.”

https://www.atptour.com/en/news/tsitsip ... 22-preview

[Bombardiero]

[Bombardiero]

[Bombardiero]

[Bombardiero]

[Damian]

[Damian]

Tsitsipas Back Up to Speed in Comfortable Australian Open Win

Spoiler:

Greek star will next play 2021 Milan competitor Baez

Stefanos Tsitsipas wasted little time getting up to speed at the Australian Open on Tuesday night.

The Greek dispelled any lingering doubts around his recovery from an elbow injury with a quickfire 6-2, 6-4, 6-3 win against Sweden’s Mikael Ymer in two hours and 10 minutes to reach the second round.

Tsitsipas has been understandably cautious at the beginning of the 2022 season. There was concern for the World No. 4 when he withdrew from his opening singles match against Hubert Hurkacz at the ATP Cup earlier this month, but the Greek insisted he just needed more preparation.

Fast-forward two weeks and the fourth seed made a fine start to his Australian Open campaign, showing no signs of physical discomfort against World No. 86 Ymer. Having reached the semi-finals at Melbourne Park in 2019 (l. to Nadal) and 2021 (l. to Medvedev), Tsitsipas will hope this win can be a springboard for another deep run in Melbourne.

His run last year also included a meeting with Ymer, in which Tsitsipas dropped just six games in a straight-sets third-round win. The Swede managed a better tally this time around but was still unable to make a real dent in the Greek’s defences.

Tsitsipas won five games in a row in taking the first set 6-1, but had to recover from going down an early break to win the second. A year ago, Ymer had defeated Hubert Hurkacz and Carlos Alcaraz before falling to Tsitsipas, and he showed glimpses of that quality again. However, all too often he found himself pinned to the baseline as Tsitsipas made good use of his volleying skills, winning 34 of 48 points he played at the net.

Tsitsipas’ lack of match practice began to show a little in the third set, with some sloppy errors bringing his unforced error count to 38. He highlighted this area for improvement after the match.

“ decrease the unforced errors, I think I had a few more than I usually have,” said Tsitsipas. “When you’re a professional tennis player, these small things can make a massive difference.”

He was also full of praise for Ymer, an opponent he knows well.

“Mikael is someone that I’ve been competing with for the past fifteen years, we are the same age, so it’s special to be facing each other on this court," said Tsitsipas. "We started from eight years old playing together and now we are playing on Rod Laver [Arena].

“He gave me a hard time, really going after every single ball and staying in the match for as long as he could.”

Next up for Tsitsipas will be Argentine Sebastian Baez, who eliminated Spanish veteran Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 1-6, 6-2 after three hours and 26 minutes.

Baez is used to the big stage after competing in last year's Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan. At the 21-and-under season finale, the Argentine defeated Hugo Gaston and Lorenzo Musetti to earn a place in the semi-finals, where he lost against Carlos Alcaraz.

More Stories Like This In: Match Report Australian Open 2022 Stefanos Tsitsipas

https://www.atptour.com/en/news/tsitsip ... 2022-day-2

[Bombardiero]

[Bombardiero]

[Bombardiero]

[Bombardiero]

[Bombardiero]

[Bombardiero]

[Bombardiero]

[Bombardiero]

[Bombardiero]

[Bombardiero]