LONDON: Fresh off losing his opening match on the grass last week at the Libema Open, Stefanos Tsitsipas believes he has what it takes to topple the big three at the Wimbledon Championships next month.
The Greek player will be the top seed at the Fever-Tree Championships, which will get underway on Monday. It is the first ATP 500 event where he is the leading player in the field. Hoping for a strong run at The Queen’s Club, Tsitsipas is making his debut at the tournament this year. Getting used to the courts and what he describes as a ‘Labyrinth’ layout of the venue.
“It’s a nice place to play tennis. The grass courts are really nice, one of the best. I like the facilities, how organized everything is.” Said Tsitsipas, who will play his first round match against Kyle Edmund.
“One thing I have been struggling with in this facility is the doors. It seems like there are too many doors. It’s like a Labyrinth.” He joked.
Being one of seven top 20 players in the draw, Tsitsipas could face a difficult route if he is to claim the title at Queen’s. Kevin Anderson and Juan Martin del Potro complete the top three seedings.
“I don’t watch the draw and don’t even know who is in my half. If you ask me who the second seed is, I wouldn’t know.” Tsitsipas replied when asked if he felt pressure to do well.
“If you think of it too much, then you become kind of lazy. Expect everything to come easy to you because you’re number one, two or so. You have to play the way I have been playing all the time without thinking about those kinds of things.”
Wimbledon dreams
2019 he has already been full of milestones for the 20-year-old. In January, he became the first Greek man to reach the semi-finals of a grand slam at the Australian Open. In May he peaked at a ranking high of 6th. The highest ever ranking for a male player from his country. Between those two achievements, he also won two ATP titles in Marseille and Estoril.
Tsitsipas is eager to continue his momentum on the British grass-courts heading into Wimbledon. A tournament where he made his grand slam main draw debut back in 2017 and reached the fourth round last year.
“There is a lot of difference between clay and grass. You have to stay lower, have faster anticipation and play clean.” The Greek No.1 explains.
“I have great memories of the grass. I won the Wimbledon junior doubles titles and I was close to doing so in singles. Losing in the semis.”
“My relationship with grass is pretty good.” He added.
Whilst the relationship is good, triumphing at the All England Club will be a problem given the dominance of the Big Three. A group consisting of Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, and Rafael Nadal. The trio has won every grand slam since Stan Wawrinka at the 2016 US Open. In recent years there has been a lot of talk about the chances of a member of the Next generation breaking through in a major, but it is yet to happen. Although Tsitsipas believes it isn’t impossible.
“I want to be honest. I would love to see something different this year,’ he said about who could potentially win Wimbledon.
‘Hopefully, it can be me, but I think it’s good for the sport to have a bit of variety, something different. It’s boring to see all these guys winning all the time. Djokovic is the reigning champion”
‘We are responsible for that as well, the new generation, to work hard and believe in ourselves that we can come up with something new, come up with our best games to beat those guys.”
Tsitsipas has defeated every member of the Big Three at least one so far in his career. However, he still trails their overall head-to-head 3-7. Something that unfazed him.
“I feel like I can beat them. My game will be at its finest if some of the Next Gen players believe that, if the younger generations think positively, I think we can achieve a lot of things. I hope this will happen at Wimbledon.” He concluded.
