Greek world No.16 Stefanos Tsitsipas has paid tribute to Swedish DJ Avicii after winning his first title at the Stockholm Open on Sunday.
The 20-year-old downed Ernests Gulbis 6-4, 6-4, to become the first Greek player in history to win a title on the ATP World Tour. Tsitsipas had also previously reached the final at tournaments in Barcelona and Montreal. On Monday morning, the Next Gen star said on social media that his maiden title will be dedicated to Avicii because the artist ‘inspired him’ with his music.
“I have dedicated my first ATP title to Avicii who inspired me with his music. A person who made me dream of things, a person with a creative attitude and a person that I will always remember.” Tsitsipas wrote.
Avicii, whose real name was Tim Bergling, passed away on April 20th at the age of 28 after reportedly committing suicide. The details about the circumstances concerning Avicii’s death was never revealed by his family or management. A statement from his family at the time of his passing said ‘he could not go on any longer.’
Prior to the start of the Stockholm final between Tsitsipas and Gulbis, a special ceremony took place to remember the artist. Avicii is one of the best-selling Swedish artists of all time with an estimated 30 million records being sold.
Avicii tribute by ball kids pic.twitter.com/pJxonfFZfP
— Skihippy loves flops (@skihippy) October 21, 2018
Despite being the youngest player currently in the world’s top 20, Tsitsipas’ latest breakthrough has generated widespread attention back home. Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras has said the country ‘is proud’ of his latest achievement. Earlier this year, Tsitsipas also became the first Greek male to reach the fourth round of a grand slam at Wimbledon.
“Of course I feel happy because I’m the first Greek [to win a title]. Hopefully many Greek players can achieve something like this. I would be super-happy to see them achieve something like this in the future, maybe even in the near future,” Tsitsipas told atpworldtour.com. “Representing my country at such high-level tournaments, being the first Greek to crack the Top 100 is very, very special for me.”
Tsitsipas will return to action this week at the Swiss Indoors in Basel. He is seeded fourth in the draw and faces France’s Jeremy Chardy in the first round.
