Home

Tennis

“Reached Almost Perfection”: Stefanos Tsitsipas Heaps Praise on Novak Djokovic After French Open 2020 Loss

Published 10/10/2020, 1:42 AM EDT

Follow Us

via Reuters

Stefanos Tsitsipas was cramping quite badly after almost four hours on court as he attempted to make an unthinkable comeback against Novak Djokovic in the French Open 2020 semi-finals. The Greek youngster stretched Djokovic to five sets but did not have enough left in the tank when it mattered.

On the other hand, Djokovic looked fit and fresh, almost like he did in the early stages of the match. While Djokovic squandered a two-set lead, he was superior to his opponent in many aspects of his game. Tsitsipas highlighted the difference between the two players on Friday and stated that Djokovic has reached ‘almost perfection’.

For sure he has reached almost perfection, Novak, in his game style, the way he plays. Which is unbelievable to see honestly,” Tsitsipas said in his post-match presser.

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

via Reuters

The key factors behind Djokovic’s win

He said that watching Djokovic play that way inspires him to do the same. “That inspires me a lot to go out and work and try to reach that perfectionism. That ability to have everything on the court,” Tsitsipas continued.

The 22-year-old was under pressure on his serve, throughout the match. While he fought hard and saved numerous break-points in the fourth set, Djokovic, as he does often, tightened the screws when he needed to. The Greek star said, “He puts a lot of pressure on his return. It’s not easy. I think there are a lot of things that I have to work on.

Trending

Get instantly notified of the hottest Tennis stories via Google! Click on Follow Us and Tap the Blue Star.

Follow Us

Tsitsipas further highlighted that not having easy games behind his serve hurt his chances a lot against Djokovic. This highlights Djokovic’s ability to raise his game on the big points.

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

via Reuters

How Novak Djokovic was strong behind the return and serve

I didn’t have many games where love or easy games that I managed to win,” Tsitsipas said. “That shows a lot of good qualities from Novak, of course, his fighting abilities on the court,” he added.

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

At the same time, Tsitsipas feels he could have done much more on Djokovic’s serve. “His serve was good today. I wasn’t creating much damage on the return. I could have done much more. Was very passive on my returns,” Tsitsipas expressed.

While the reigning ATP Finals champion showed quite a few good qualities himself, he was always playing catch up against Djokovic. It is noteworthy that Djokovic who struggled with an injury in his last match showed no signs of the same against Tsitsipas, which reflects his ability to recover and his fitness levels. It is sure to be tested on Sunday.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE :

Written by:

Aayush Majumdar

1,006Articles

One take at a time

Aayush Majumdar is a NASCAR content strategist, a Tennis Writer, and a sports analyst at EssentiallySports. He is well-tenured as a tennis and NASCAR writer, with over 900 articles across both sports. After pursuing a Post Graduate program in Sports Management, Aayush explored various roles in Sports Media, including a Sports Reporting role at a leading English daily.
Show More>