Major Talk #4 – Stefanos Tsitsipas
Major Talk: a series of interviews conducted by French player Alizé Lim with some of the tour’s brightest stars. Her latest guest is Stefanos Tsitsipas, the ATP Tour’s world No 6
One of the most interesting and analytical minds on the ATP tour, Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece, discusses a variety of subjects, from his complicated relationship with his coach and father Apostolos, to his days as a hyper emotional junior that saw him hiding from his parents at tournaments after tough losses. The 21-year-old says he has resumed his training at the Patrick Mouratoglou Academy, but adds that he has struggled to find the motivation due to the fact that there is no definite date for tennis to resume.
“It’s quite tricky. I want to do it like a pre-season but at the same time I’m like, ‘Wait, it might take a long time to start competing again.’ It is difficult to find motivation, that is for sure, at the same time I’m like ‘You just have to play tennis and just enjoy it and not think too much about who is your next opponent or where is your next tournament’. So I’m playing every day — it’s a bit difficult for me sometimes to feel motivated, I feel down mentally, sometimes I don’t want to play, but I do it because it’s for the better.”
Tsitsipas, in his typical candid fashion, talked about what he missed the most about tennis and shared some details of his fundraising efforts. Recently, Tsitsipas joined with Mouratoglou in an effort to provide financial aid to players outside of the top 100 that are suffering economic consequences due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
Tsitsipas knows what it is like to have a very uncertain future.
“Me and Patrick decided to start this fundraiser to help players outside of the top 100, and help them financially during this crisis, help them financially and provide them with support, we’ve successfully contributed a lot in the last couple of weeks. People care, so they’ve helped us. The best thing is that the money goes straight to the ATP and the WTA – it supports both Federations.”
The Greek also dives into his feelings on his future rivals and Tsitsipas tells Lim why he would prefer to talk less about when he is going to break through and win a Grand Slam title.
“I feel it’s going to come if you wait, you don’t have to ask the same question every single time,” he said. “My theory behind it is that if you think about it too much it might as well never happen, so just relax and enjoy the process.
