Stefanos Tsitsipas beat Danil Medvedev 6-3 6-7 (11-13) 7-6 (7-1) in a thrilling match in the evening session of the Nitto ATP Finals.
During his second round robin group match against Medvedev, Tsitsipas used the serve and volley very well, showing his improvement in this tactic. The Greek star came to the net 36 times and won 27 of those points against his Russian rival.
The Greek player hired Australian coach Mark Philippoussis, who was a serve and volley specialist during his tennis career.
“I have improved my serve over the course of the past few years. I think that is the reason why I am able to do that a bit more comfortably and with confidence. I come to the net much smoother and more relaxed on the serve, which in the past, I think, I believe was slightly different, the more the match went through. I would say the serve, the volleys, I put a lot of work in simplifying it without swinging too much. It has helped me to be more consistent and finding the right spots when I come in”,said Tsitsipas.
Tsistipas forced Medvedev out of his comfort zone by using his serve and volley tactic.
“For sure serve and volley is something that can be added to my game. I have been using it a bit more than before. I have been using it on clay. Not as much as let’s say in recent years. Two, three years ago I used it a lot. I am working day by day to introduce it back into my game, to have pretty much my opponent guessing a bit more, not get comfortable every single time. I think the tactic is fun for fans. It has been lost over the years in our sport. Not many players do that any more. It’s important to remain a big part do that any more. I think it’s important to remain a big part of the game and to have more players play in on TV, in front of stadiums, big crowds. It’s a beautiful kind of transition from the serve to the net. It introduces so many things. It’s tennis modernized, but at the same time keeping its aggressive elements of the game”.
Tsitsipas wasted three match points in the second set before he rallied from 3-5 in the third set to beat Medvedev after 2 hours and 21 minutes, improving to 4-7 in his head-to-head match against his Russian player.
“I have been playing a lot of tennis in my life. I had to deal with situations like this since I was a child. It’s never a nice feeling to have to start a new set, especially when you had a big opportunity like this a couple of times in the tie-break. You have to reset. Easier said than done, but your mind needs to continue and take this as a separate new set. For sure it’s something that you need to be on that level. It was very tiring out there. I am so glad I overcame this and I was able to enjoy it with the crowd. It’s a great win and I am extremely proud of the way I thought. It never seemed to kind to be ending for me. Even on the last game when he was serving, I still felt if I was able to put a few balls in, some opportunity might present itself, and it did. It was great to get back into the match, I felt reborn, and what a great way to end it”, said Tsitsipas.
Tsitsipas will take on Andrey Rublev in a decisive winner-takes-all match. Both players hold 1-1 records at this year’s edition of the ATP Finals. Tsitsipas leads 6-4 in his 10 head-to-head matches against Rublev. Rublev beat Tsitsipas 6-4 6-4 in the round robin at last year’s edition of the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin. Tsitsipas won his most recent head-to-head matches against Rublev in the quarter finals at the Masters 1000 in Madrid and in the semifinals of the ATP 500 in Astana in three sets during the 2022 season.
“We have been playing good tennis. We have had matches against each other in the past, long matches, shorter matches, all kind of matches, pretty much all surfaces”, said Tsitsipas.
