Stefanos Tsitsipas admits he is ‘pain-free’ now as he has had a sensational first week at the US Open.
The former Australian Open finalist is into the last 16 in New York as he defeated Jiri Lehecka in four sets.
Despite losing the opening set 6-2, Tsitsipas rallied back winning the next three sets 6-1 7-6 6-1 to advance at the US Open.
It’s been a sensational tournament so far for Tsitsipas who started the tournament by knocking out Arthur Fils and has continued that momentum.
Reflecting on his time in New York, Tsitsipas has admitted that not being seeded has freed up his game so far, “It’s fair to say that. When you’re high-ranked and, you know, you’re seeded in this tournament, not just seeded, but one of the high seeds in a big Grand Slam like that, it kind of has the tendency to feel a little bit different when you step out on the court,” Tsitsipas said in his press conference.
“There isn’t much for me to be worried about, I feel like, because I’m just playing and enjoying. If things go well, things go well. In my mind, you know, trying to accept also this ancient Greek philosophy of, like, preparing for the worst-case scenario in my mind before I go out into the battlefield, before I go out into this war zone, let’s just call it, I’ve already kind of embraced that there might be really bad scenarios.
“It won’t always be ideal the way I like it, so going into a match with that kind of mindset allows me to view what I’m doing out there slightly different than usually. Before, I’d say too much optimism and too much confidence can also kill your game.
“I have learned it in different ways throughout my career.”
It’s been a tricky season for Tsitsipas who has had injuries and coaching changes to deal with but is now hitting form at the right time.
After his run to the last 16 Tsitsipas admitted he is finally pain-free after an inconsistent season, “If I started having some sort of momentum in tournaments, my back started hurting,” Tsitsipas stated.
“So it was a very weird, wavy year in terms of not much consistency to what was going on throughout an entire season. I played in Australia with back pain. I remember during the clay season, things kind of stabilized and I somehow felt a little bit better until I had to play, I think it was Fils in one of the Barcelona quarterfinals that I played there.
“And then the back came back, and it just created a whole lot of uncertainty, and I already — it creates a lot of worry. And when worry is around on a daily basis, it kills you. I stopped enjoying practice because my body hurts. And going into a match, your first concern is am I going to finish a match. That’s the number one thing, where before it wasn’t even a question. Why would you stop a match because of pain?
“So I felt like I was dealing with a lot of different battles internally but also physically. There was a lot of things coming here and there. It creates chaos within you. It creates a lot of frustration. But, you know, I actually accepted it pretty well. I was able to accept it. If things don’t go well, I know I’ll have another route.
“This season might have not been the best that I’ve had, but at least I wake up every single day, and I’m happy that I don’t have any pain, and I know I can go practice without any uncertainty of how my body’s going to respond.”
Now, Tsitsipas will look to get his body healthy again as he takes on Ben Shelton in the fourth round on Sunday.
Shelton defeated Denis Shapovalov in four sets in a late night thriller and is looking forward to the task of facing Tsitsipas, “Yeah, I have been watching his matches. I think he’s playing great,” Shelton said in his press conference.
“I think that his style of tennis can be very, very effective on all surfaces, all-court game, great athlete. We played once my first year on tour. Really looking forward to it.”
