Stefanos Tsitsipas had the pleasure of partnering Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal during his Laver Cup debut—and the pain of losing both matches with the iconic champions.
Still, the Laver Cup debutante called playing alongside the legends an "unbelievable" experience.
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"It gave me the opportunity to see from their perspective when they're on the court how they see everything, and it's quite interesting, very unique, and that's what makes them the greatest ever," Tsitsipas said after he and Federer fell to John Isner and Jack Sock 5-7, 6-4, 10-8. "Their determination, their concentration, their skill, they are 100 percent in charge."
Tsitsipas burst out of the blocks explosively toppling Federer and Roberto Bautista Agut advancing to the Australian Open semifinals in just his seventh Grand Slam appearance.
The seventh-ranked Greek struggled in the rest of his 2019 major appearances suffering a gut-wrenching loss to Stan Wawrinka in the Roland Garros fourth round, bowing to 89th-ranked Thomas Fabbiano in the Wimbledon first round and falling to Andrey Rublev in his US Open opener.
Tsitsipas said there are two key areas he must address to make a major breakthrough: play with more clarity and ruthlessness.
"I think I've got to put a lot of work in and clear a few things up," Tsitsipas said. "Sometimes I feel confused in what I should proceed on doing when I'm on the court and playing with the things that work the best in my game, being in charge and having a clear mind of what I'm about to do in crucial moments which define my success, because that's where the pressure points are very important to deal with."
Playing Grand Slams with ultimate intensity is Tsitsipas' goal for 2020 as he aims to "demolish" each Grand Slam opponent.
"I still feel young in my mind, and I feel I have to mature a little bit and toughen up. I feel like I have the game to do well in Grand Slams," Tsitsipas said. "I guess I proved myself at the Australian Open in the semifinals. I just need to do things the right way, save energy.
"Grand Slams, for me, is a marathon in which you have to be mentally prepared to just demolish, destroy each opponent that you have in front of you and not kind of like feel sorry for him or anything like that. It's got to be double of what you're usually playing. That's how I think of it. You've just got to be tough and you have to go out there determined and with right, obviously as I said, with the right work behind you."
Photo credit: Christopher Levy