"My ego tells me I want more" - Stefanos Tsitsipas after making the semifinals at Roland Garros
Stefanos Tsitsipas produced his best performance at this year's Roland Garros to defeat Daniil Medvedev 6-3, 7-6 (3), 7-5 in the quarterfinals. The Greek is now into his third consecutive Grand Slam semifinal, where he will take on 24-year-old Alexander Zverev.
The last-four encounter between Stefanos Tsitsipas, 22, and Zverev will be the youngest semifinal in Paris since 2008, when a 22-year-old Rafael Nadal defeated a 21-year-old Novak Djokovic.
Speaking to the media after his win, Tsitsipas said he was "privileged" to have made it to a third straight Major semifinal but stressed he wants more out of his Roland Garros campaign.
“I feel privileged that I'm in that position,” Tsitsipas said. “I feel obviously I've put in a lot of daily hard work and [that] has been a key element of me being here. But my ego tells me I want more.”
Stefanos Tsitsipas believes he has been in good form lately and hopes the work he's put in to get to this level will pay off.
“I'm playing good. That will show by itself,” Tsitsipas said. “I don't think there's a player out there [in the draw] that thinks they can't win the tournament. I'm pretty sure they all know they can play well."
“Of course I'm playing good [too], and I think if I keep repeating the process, keep repeating the everyday hustle that I put [in], for sure there's going to be a reward. And why not?”
"One of the best matches I played this week" - Stefanos Tsitsipas on win against Medvedev
Stefanos Tsitsipas trailed Medvedev 6-1 in the head-to-head prior to Tuesday's clash. However, he rarely looked troubled and eased to a straight-sets win, avenging his loss to the Russian at the Australian Open.
During the on-court interview, Tsitsipas said he did well to thwart a player of Medvedev's quality.
"I was playing against one of the best guys on the tour, I had to keep up with the intensity and elevate my game during the entire match,” Stefanos Tsitsipas said. “I felt like I was playing really good and not giving him space. I think it was one of the best matches I played this week and I am really happy with that.”
The match ended in bizarre fashion when Medvedev produced an underarm serve on match point at 5-6 in the third set, as he looked to try and catch the Greek off guard.
But the World No. 5 was alert and dispatched the feeble delivery with ease to seal the win.
During his post-match press conference, Stefanos Tsitsipas labeled the underarm serve a "millennial shot". The Greek revealed he knew Daniil Medvedev would try something different as he had observed a change in the Russian's pre-service routine.
“A very millennial shot,” the fifth seed said. “Well, once he took like a short break, I saw he stopped. I felt like there was something coming up, so at that point I think I got prepared for it. It’s that, like, less of a second when you realize something is about to change from a regular [serve]. It was fine. I [did] what I had to do.”