I give this Stefanos Tsitsipas kid a lot of credit. He’s trying to figure things out. He wants to win. He thinks he knows how but in this sport it isn’t that easy. And yesterday after getting a free tennis lesson from Rafael Nadal, he was left scratching his head.
Tsitsipas had played well against Rafa in the Canadian final last year, but last night was a blowout, and it left the Greek to wonder who in the world did Roger Federer, who he emulates, ever beat Nadal.
“I’m just trying to think how Federer beat him so,” Tsitsipas said. “Similar game style like me. I’m trying to understand. I mean, I don’t want to lose to Rafa 10 times.”
Well, he’s probably going to lose to Rafa 10 times but I do think Stefanos will get a few wins. Once he overcomes the awe of Rafa, he’ll figure it out and realize he does have the game to do it.
Right now, though, I just like that he sounds so shell-shocked after the loss.
“I have no idea what I can take from that match. It’s not that I was even close to get to something. I only got six games from that match.
“I don’t know, I feel very strange. I feel happy with my performance in this tournament, but at the same time I feel disappointed. I feel like I could do a bit better today. I don’t know. That’s how I felt.
“But it’s a very, very weird feeling. Almost felt like just couldn’t play better. I don’t know.
“The angles that he was using, my brain was used to a certain rhythm of the game with all the righty players that I played this week. Him, it felt like I was always, when he was playing, on the wrong foot. Didn’t check properly. Felt very slow today. I feel pretty fast when I’m on the court. I mean, I’ve improved a lot in that part of my game. Today I felt like a 2-meter-10 guy that can’t move on the court. That’s definitely not me. I don’t know.”
Kids these days.
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