‘Today I learned what means living life’ – Tsitsipas staying inspired after a tough loss

Stefanos Tsitsipas had a remarkable 2019 that culminated with his fantastic title at the ATP Finals. The Greek star started that season in the best possible way after he reached the semifinals of the Australian Open before having a strong run during the clay season when he conquered the title in Estoril, and he reached the final in Madrid.

The world no.6 looked extremely strong on the dirt, and he seemed to be the possible dark horse at the French Open. Instead, Stefanos lost in the 4th round to Stan Wawrinka 7-6⁶ 5-7 6-4 3-6 8-6 in what was considered by many as one of the best matches of the season.

Even if that was a very tough loss, Tsitsipas was mature enough to see the good out of it, saying that he learned a lesson that no one could teach. Here his comments:

“Today I felt something that I can’t really explain. Today was the first time in my entire life, in my twenty years of existence that I felt that “aura”, the real definition of the word, competition. Not any kind of competition though, it felt different than any other time, any other battle, any other moment on the tennis court. There is something about today that I won’t be able to explain. It’s a feeling that makes me appreciate the sport that I chose to pursue in my life as a career.

The bitter taste of that loss is something unexplainable. @stanwawrinka85 makes our sport real and pragmatic. It’s something that’s rare to find in the world that we are at. It’s something unique. There is loads of charm and charisma to it. We both struggled, we both went beyond our limits, we both experienced luck, and our destiny was drawn on that Parisian court after five hours of physical and mental suffering.

I really don’t know if what I feel right now is positive or negative. There is no bipolar effect to it. Today I learned something that no school, no classroom, no teacher would be able to teach. It’s called, living life!”

Stefanos Tsitsipas in 2020

At the moment ranked no.6, the Greek played his last match on the 7^th of March when he overcame Jeson Patrombon 6-2 6-1 in the Rubber 4 of the Davis Cup.

This year the Greek has a 11-5 win-loss record. Stefanos conquered 1 title in Marseille. Stefanos was the finalist in Dubai.

Stan Wawrinka in 2020

Now the world no.17, the Swiss played his last match on the 27^th of February when he was overcome by Grigor Dimitrov 6-4 6-4 in the quarter in Acapulco.

Stan Wawrinka’s most significant result of the present season was reaching the semi-finals in Doha.

Stefanos Tsitsipas and Stan Wawrinka played each other once. The head to head is 1-0 for Wawrinka. When they played, Stan Wawrinka won 7-6⁶ 5-7 6-4 3-6 8-6 in the 4^th round in Paris (French Open) in June 2019.