The race doesn’t stop Stefanos Tsitsipas at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia. The ATP n.8 beats the British left-handed Cameron Norrie in two sets (6-2 7-6) and can thus celebrate the fourth round in Rome and continue his impressive season on clay.
“In the first set I did a great job to make him uncomfortable – commented the 25-year-old Greek – or at least that’s what I felt from the other side of the court. My topspin was very heavy and my shots were deep and angled, so my opponent had difficulty controlling them. I also served very effectively.”
The second set was more challenging, with Tsitsipas forced to recover after having wasted a break lead: “The second set was not easy – continued Stefanos – but Norrie is a high-level player and knows how to adapt to situations and how to resolve problems. problems. I knew that the second half could present a different type of challenge. So it was and I had to find new solutions. He held serve more comfortably and my shots didn’t hurt as much anymore. But my patience and determination in the tie-break, where I tried to make him play as many balls as possible, allowed me to bring home this success. It was a relief. The match was very balanced and in the end it was based on some small details.”
In the end the statistical report reads 27 winners and 9 unforced errors for the Greek who in 2024 is 12-2 on clay, having won his third ATP Masters 1000 in Monte-Carlo. In the press conference he also spoke about his ranking goals: “There aren’t many points to collect during a grass court season. If you have an excellent performance on the green I believe there are no more than 3,000 points up for grabs. I did some calculations and on clay it’s around 6,000. Hard is obviously the surface that offers the greatest number of points: you can get up to 12,000 or even more. There is great potential to score big and accumulate as many points as possible. These are the aspects we are working to improve. That’s where you see the improvements, in those numbers, and the numbers don’t lie. They say it all. Although, personally, I don’t look at them much while playing a tournament. I just try to concentrate and the rest comes by itself.”
Tsitsipas also spoke about the defeats of Rafa and Novak in Rome and the injuries of Sinner and Alcaraz, for what is probably a great opportunity, in view of Paris, for players of his caliber: “It hurts a bit when this guy of things happen to the strongest players. Continuing without them is a shame. But obviously there are also those behind who thus have the opportunity to play in large stadiums and in front of large crowds. The lengthening of the Masters 1000 I believe plays a role and contributes to these players getting injured. If you add more days, you have to be a superhero to be consistent in the 10 consecutive days of each event, until the end. It’s not an easy thing to do. I fear that this will not be the first time we see things like this happen if the needs of the players are not also taken into consideration.”
Now waiting for Tsitsipas in the fourth round is the 25-year-old Australian Alex de Minaur: “Everyone knows Alex de Minaur. He is a fighter. He puts everything on the field every time he plays. He knows how to run. He knows how to fight. He knows how to fight. It won’t be an easy match. I played with him many times. I feel like he’s improved a lot in the last couple of times I’ve faced him. He’s a better player. My job is to go on the court, demonstrate the best I can in terms of tennis, use my weapons effectively. With players like him it’s important to be consistent, stay in the match as much as possible.”
Tsitsipas, who has achieved excellent results in Rome during his career (final in 2022 and “semi” in 2019 and 2023), will try to win his first title at the Foro Italico after last year he was stopped by the winner of the Daniil Medvedev tournament at the end of a hard-fought match.
2024-05-13 15:46:37
#Tsitsipas #superhero #key #service
