By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Monday February 8, 2020
Could this be the year that Stefanos Tsitsipas takes the next step on the Grand Slam stage? Back at the scene of his first career Grand Slam semifinal, Tsitsipas blasted past veteran Frenchman Gilles Simon, 6-1, 6-2, 6-1 on Tuesday night inside Rod Laver Arena, and announced himself in fine form for another run at the Happy Slam.
But there was one area where the 22-year-old Greek struggled: the post-match interview.
Tsitsipas made the mistake of saying he didn’t expect his win against Simon to come so easily and added: “It was a great match from my side.”
Sensing an air of hubris, the crowd gave the Greek star a fair bit of razzing for that statement and the awkward (but fun) interview continued.
“Let’s be honest,” Tsitsipas said, and as the crowd murmured, he added: “Oh my god, I think I messed it up already.”
Tsitsipas couldn’t help himself.
“I think I played a great, spectacular match,” he continued, before laughing and saying “What am I doing here?”
The exchange continued until Tsitsipas finally said “I can just leave if you want me to. This was the last thing I was expecting, to play at Rod Laver and everyone laughing at me.”
It was a light-hearted exchange, and really quite hilarious. What was more serious and perhaps menacing, was how well Tsitsipas played. He’s lined up to face Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals and if that match happens he’ll have a real chance to score a win against the great Spaniard.
Berrettini Rolls
Italy’s Matteo Berrettini, another player that displayed great form at ATP Cup, along with Andrey Rublev, Daniil Medvedev and Tsitsipas, continued his fine form with a straight sets win over Kevin Anderson on Margaret Court Arena, 7-6(9), 7-5, 6-3.
Berrettini cracked 45 winners and saved all three break points he faced.
If the seeds hold, Berrettini and Tsitsipas would meet in the round of 16.