Defeated but not deflated, Stefanos Tsitsipas revealed that he is looking at the bigger picture after his fourth-round loss to Taylor Fritz 7-6(3), 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 at the Australian Open last Sunday.
The American had lost all 11 of his previous meetings with top-10 players at Grand Slams, including a fourth-round defeat to Tsitsipas in Melbourne in 2022. But the 26-year-old was close to his best at the John Cain Arena to end that drought, firing 13 aces and winning 86 per cent (68/79) of his first-serve points to progress after three hours and one minute.
The Greek was not at his best during his four-set defeat against the American and will drop out of the Top 10 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings for the first time since February 2019 if Alex de Minaur overcomes Andrey Rublev on Sunday night.
“It’s not a negative feeling. It’s a feeling of evolution, of change, which is constant,” Tsitsipas said in his post-match press conference. “Change is always constant. One day you’re in the Top 10, the other day you’re not there anymore, so you have to keep on working and allowing yourself to flourish through these experiences, allow yourself to sort of seek for all these moments that have been working for you over the past few years, give it another shot time after time.
It’s painful, and the moments of glory are not that many. There are just way more moments in your career that are painful and tough to deal with, suffering and all that stuff, than moments of glory and success. These are a very small percentage of what a tennis player lives on a yearly basis.”
Tsitsipas has now lost his past five matches against Top 20 players. He leaves Australia holding a 4-2 record on the season.
Last year, Tsitsipas failed to reach the quarter-finals at tour-level events in Rotterdam, Indian Wells and Miami. With few points to defend, he will have an opportunity to climb in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings in the coming months.
