“I was actually able to move on from that loss immediately” – Tsitsipas on Australian Open final loss

The Greek star has reached two Grand Slam finals but is still chasing his first Major title

Stefanos Tsitsipas with the runners-up trophy after losing his final match against Serbia’s Novak Djokovic at the 2023 Australian Open Image Credit: AI/Reuters/Panoramic

Haresh Ramchandani

February 20, 2023

Stefanos Tsitsipas reached his second Grand Slam singles final at the Australian Open last month, going down to Novak Djokovic in straight sets. The first time the Greek had reached a Grand Slam final was in two years ago – in June 2021, when he lost to Djokovic again in five sets after holding a two-sets-to-love lead.

Perhaps a sign of maturity that the 24-year-old Tsitsipas says that he was able to get over his loss in Melbourne way more quicker than his loss in Paris.

“What was different for me personally was that I was actually able to move on from that loss immediately right during the ceremony, like a few minutes later,” Tsitsipas said in an online interaction with fans. “I’ve dealt with it previously and it hurt a lot. Especially when I was bringing myself back to the fact that I was so close to winning and being two sets to love up.”

“But reflecting on it later on, it hurt and I did cry. I was very upset. It was an opportunity for me to do something that I had not done before. I started thinking of Stefanos as a kid, as an eight-year-old and watching the French Open and thinking how cool it would be even to play there. I wasn’t even thinking about winning it. I was just thinking of playing there. And now I am faced with the opportunity to lift such a beautiful trophy. I was thinking a lot of my tennis club, where we started. We were such a small community. We are so close to each other. It almost felt like starting from the village and making my way up to this mega church or mega city of golden opportunities.”

Tsitsipas, who is currently ranked No 3 in the world, said he does not see look back at his Paris loss negatively and wants to continue working hard towards achieving his goal of winning a Grand Slam.

“Now I don’t see any negativity behind it. The journey is still beautiful and it’s grand. You have to keep building and you have to keep working to get there. I believe in fate and destiny. I just keep on doing my job and keep on building around it.”