The match was a mad chase.
Stefanos Tsitsipas watched Rafael Nadal for a long time unroll his oiled mechanics seeming to lead him to a quiet victory, before managing to dig a breach in the Spanish wall and reach the end of the suspense to eject him from the board.
High performance.
Since his debut on the circuit, Rafael Nadal had only been knocked down twice after seeing the first two sets pocketed: by Roger Federer in 2005 in Miami, then by Fabio Fognini at the 2015 US Open. Sufficient to express solidity of the Spaniard and the performance achieved by the young Greek, winner 3-6, 2-6, 7-6 (7/4), 6-4, 7-5 in 4:05.
The kind of benchmark match that builds confidence, helps change status.
Still under the influence of strong emotion and a breathtaking final, Stefanos Tsistsipas (22 years old, seeded n ° 5) who is chasing a first Grand Slam final, at a press conference, revisited his crazy evening in Melbourne.
Extracts.
The parallel with the success obtained in Australia against Federer (in the round of 16, in 4 sets, in 2019):
“It brings back very good emotions and good feelings.
For sure, I feel something more, an additional connection with the Rod Laver Arena.
I have experienced great moments, moments that lifted me up and moments that I will never forget.
This is one of my favorite shorts.
It's an amazing place to play tennis. ”
“Nothing was going through my mind. I was so ... how to describe? Nirvana. Just play, don't think ”
The avalanche of emotions:
“Such moments, it has not happened often in my career.
The fact that I am able to come back and the way to do it against a high level, respected player like Rafa was something more, something that I had never felt before.
It was a very special moment to share with my father.
Not just with my dad, with my whole team.
It's everything I've ever dreamed of, and I'm happy to be where I am today.
There is obviously light at the end of the tunnel, and there is still a lot to do. ”
The crazy chase:
“Nothing went through my mind.
I was so ... how to describe?
Nirvana.
Just play, don't think.
I was mostly focused on every serve, every shot.
In the third set, I changed little.
I changed my patterns.
Maybe I took a little longer.
Then it took off on its own.
This is how I feel it.
I just played impeccably, without worrying about a thing, and that increased the level of tennis that I played. ”
“Patrick Mouratoglou is a great guy on and off the pitch. He's kind of a tennis guru, I think ”
The importance of Patrick Mouratoglou:
“Patrick has a lot of experience.
He's been around for a very long time.
He worked with a lot of players.
I am very happy that he is part of my team.
I am very happy that he is there, not only to support me, but also to guide me.
I feel a huge connection with him.
He's a great guy on and off the pitch.
He's kind of a tennis guru, I think.
I'm lucky to have one on my team.
He analyses.
He sees the game very clearly.
He helped me a lot in my game. And also Kerei Abakar, who is my trainer at the academy, who is not there by chance, who looks at me and helps me to get where I want one day. "
Daniil Medvedev (seeded n ° 4), his rival in the semi-finals:
“I don't feel completely exhausted.
Medvedev, it will be a difficult task (the Russian leads 5 wins to 1 in their head-to-head; but it was the Greek who was impoised during the last meeting, in the group stage of the Masters in 2019) .
He's in great shape, he plays tennis well, he's precise, he plays simple.
I could have said in the past that he plays boringly, but I don't think he plays boringly.
He just plays extremely smart and gets past you.
I really have to be careful, take my chances and put the pressure on. ”
Read also
Australian Open: Men's results