ROLAND GARROS

May 23, 2025

Stefanos Tsitsipas

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: How are you feeling and how have your preparations been coming into Roland Garros?

STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: I'm feeling good the last couple of days. I decided not to play Hamburg and skip that week because it was vital and important to me to regain my health. The last few weeks on the tour have been demanding and physically taxing. I had to take a week off.

I've had a good week of preparation back home. I've been doing all the necessary things to try and get ready for the big Grand Slam here in France. One of my favorites to come and play here. I've always had sort of a good relationship with the crowd, but also a very strong memory of getting to play the final here, having had a great run that year, playing flawless tennis, being on top of my game.

I'm hoping I can try and regain that confidence. I'm hoping that I won't get stuck at quarters like the last couple of years. This is something that I'm going to work towards this edition of the Roland Garros. I'm hoping that it's going to go better for me this time.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. From the outside this past year it seemed like quite a year of maturation for you in terms of the people around you, your team, becoming more of an adult. Does it feel like that?

STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: Absolutely. It feels very much like that. I've acknowledged it. I've accepted it. I know that there is a lot of discomfort that comes with that, being used to my own ways, being used to certain patterns, situations that were occurring on a repetitive mode. I feel like I've escaped that a little bit and I'm more in control of what I want and what I think is necessary for me.

Having that said, I feel like I am my own boss, much clearer. I've never worked harder in my life. That is a bonus. That is a plus. I keep pushing myself to the limits every single day.

Sometimes it's difficult. It's been a tough two years, I would say, especially after what happened at the Nitto Finals that one year that I had to retire. It's been physically very demanding trying to catch up with the intensity of what the tour has to offer.

I've been just doing my best constantly to have my body constantly prepared, not break down suddenly like it did in Turin that year.

Q. You mentioned reaching the final here a few years ago. How did you find the period after having lost it, both then and in Australia?

STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: Are we talking about the Grand Slam finals?

Q. Yes.

STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: What was the question again?

Q. How did you find it after, belief that you reached a final or...

STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: It feels good being able to play Grand Slam finals. You feel important. You feel like you're doing something with your career. It definitely adds a lot of confidence to your game.

Being in a position to do it on a hard court and on a clay court shows you that there is variation in my game. I'm not just a player that can play good on clay or vice versa basically.

I feel like it feeds me a lot of information of things that didn't go well and why I lost those finals, what can I do better next time.

Twice I was exposed against Novak. It was very difficult having to be able to keep up with that level of intensity. It's easy to say that. One year here I was very close, I was two sets to love up, but it seemed very far away even when I reached that point. It seemed like I hadn't done anything that important yet because obviously I was being faced against the best player in the world at the time.

I feel like the lineup right now is much more difficult than it was back then. Players are so much more mature. Shots have changed. Players have second forehands in this very moment. They're playing with two forehands almost. I have to adapt my game.

I have to consider certain things moving forwards because it's growing a lot in intensity, and physically it has never been in a position like the way it is now.

I see constant evolution and constant growth of the sport in terms of how the players are evolving and how much better they're getting over the years.

Q. One of the big moments of the tournament is going to be the ceremony for Nadal. Can you tell us why he was so strong, if you have to choose one skill?

STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: I was lucky enough not to play him on Chatrier. I feel that wouldn't have been a fun experience. But I played him a few times on clay.

I can say that, well, he has a gift to be able to play that way, to do the stuff that he did over so many years. I have massive respect for him, but also he taught me so much about clay court tennis, he taught me so much about determination and perseverance on a tennis court.

I've always spoken about Federer, how Roger Federer was the person that I looked up to. But I think it's a combination of the two. I never admitted that it was Rafa because I felt like my tennis resonated more with Roger than Rafa. Maybe if I would have been a double-handed backhand player maybe I would have leaned more towards Rafael Nadal.

I have massive respect for what he has done with Roland Garros, winning 29 times. 14 times (smiling). It will be tough to see him go away. I spoke to him a few weeks ago in Madrid. Yeah, it's strange seeing him not compete and living a completely different life than he used to for so many years.

Q. What did it take for you to become your own boss? How have you liked that freedom and power in your life? What are of the challenges of it?

STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: Well, responsibility, much more responsibility. I am ready to face it. I don't think I would have picked that way if I wasn't ready for the consequences that come with it, the demands that those things entail.

I was absolutely ready for something like this. I think it also allows me to form more into an adult. I felt like I was mature at the time, but there are certain things and certain ways that I need to impose within my life to take bigger responsibilities.

I think that will also teach me how to mature faster and how to be faced against difficult challenging situations, not just on the tennis court but outside of it as well.

I've definitely learnt massively in that occasion. It has helped me form into a much stronger and a much more decisive player and person at the same time.

Q. You take a tough loss. Is it difficult as a player, because it's your job to kind of analyze it and see what went wrong, what went right, is that a painful thing to sit down and watch a Grand Slam final defeat?

STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: If I could explain you amount of times I went to watch a match that I lost and midway I can't do this anymore. It hurts me. It hurts seeing me being punched and kicked at, metaphorically speaking.

Sometimes I just have to endure it. I like doing it. I've been doing more of it over the last couple of weeks. I've been spending more time focusing on receiving feedback from those type of matches because I feel it's much more valuable that I initially thought when I was younger.

I've grown to realize that this is important as part of the growth that I'm looking for in my tennis. Data has been a big element into the last couple of weeks being on the tour. I've been analyzing a lot.

What is more interesting is all this equipment stuff and analytics around how equipment actually benefits you or takes away certain things out of your game. I've been very analytical on those types of things. It has helped me craft a better understanding of things that are being taken away from my game and things that maybe I should focus on more.

Q. Have you watched back the slam finals?

STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: With Novak it's a bit tough. I think it's 3 hours 40. I did last week watch maybe 25, 30 minutes of it. Made me realize how much of a different player I am today than I was back then. I would say even better now than in that particular final that I played.

I just want to pinpoint the thing you asked me earlier. Tennis has become more intense in terms of having to keep up the level. That's what I've realized being in that final, that tennis is very much different now than it was before Jannik and Carlos come around the corner. Also there are a bunch of guys now that are following their footsteps and showing the same type of potential.

Q. When you watch that match back, a Grand Slam final, a huge match, do you watch the part where you're winning because maybe it might make you come into the next tournament feeling good about yourself, or is it more important to pick up on things that you didn't do so well?

STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: It's important on both ways to analyze the losses and the wins. Obviously it's a much greater feeling when you see yourself win matches. I spend more time watching those that I win than the ones I lose. Psychologically it hurts more seeing yourself not being able to figure it out.

I take away a lot of things from matches that I win to kind of observe more the patterns and the tactics and the strategies that I apply into the court that actually work.

I try to recreate those in my mind. Even when I go to sleep, sometimes I play tennis in my mind. I don't think that's toxic or weird to do. It's probably just a way to show my love for tennis and how much I like the tactic behind the sport that I choose to play.

It helps me activate my mind a little bit, imagine how I would be if I was playing in another Roland Garros final again, what could I avoid this time and what could I recreate in my mind as a visualization type of thing to try to impose next time maybe if I'm facing a situation like this.

Yeah, the work starts even outside of tennis court sometimes, maybe right before bed.