Tsitsipas: “I don’t have good results, the responsibility is solely mine”

Stefanos Tsitsipas, after being eliminated by Dominic Stricker in the second round of the US Open tennis, emphasized that he is solely responsible for what happens on the court, he stood on the jetlag of his trip to Toronto, he could not justify his mediocre performance, he justified the his decision to sign autographs and he spoke about the problems created by his opponent’s serve and footwork.

In detail: “I will not blame anyone from my team. Everything on the court is under my control and the way I can play shows on the court. If I can’t perform, I won’t do well. This happened this summer. I was not capable of bringing good results. I won’t blame anything. I’m just average after Los Campos.

I had a rough transition in Toronto where I had bad jet lag for the first time on the tour. I was going to pull out of the Gael match, but I played and hoped I would do something. For the other two results, for this one today, I can’t say anything. It was just average performance. My opponent played better tennis. I want to congratulate him because I consider myself a good player and I don’t want to lose easily.

I try to make it as difficult as possible and if it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work. I’m moving on with my life. I hope to be better in the future.”

Despite missing the match, he stayed on the pitch for a few minutes to sign autographs for his fans. “It’s not easy to stay there. I saw the little kids, their faces touched my heart because I was once in their place, I had sports players that I admired. Now, I think the guys admire me, not as much as Roger, Rafa and Novak, but I’m somewhere in the… substitutes.

I had to do it and it felt good. Inside, the first thing I wanted to do was leave the court, clear my mind, but I had to. And I hope I made people happy.”

About the match with Stricker, he said: “His serve was a big ‘weapon’ and helped him a lot. He’s very relaxed and he’s in the zone, he can hit big serves. I struggled with my movement today, it was the main issue with my appearance. The movement was not good at all, although in the previous match the footwork and movement were good.

I couldn’t bring them to today’s match and be consistent. I was off balance, caught on the wrong foot most of the time. The court was a bit faster than Armstrong, but that’s no excuse. I think at times I had a chance to hit the ball, go for more, but it was going faster and it threw me off balance, I hit the frame a few times.”