Sometimes the facts do tell a story

[stroke]

Zverev is the 1st active player other than Fed, Nadal, Novak, or Murray to win 3 Masters 1000 Titles. Tsitsipas is the 1st player since Nadal(in 2006) to have 3 top 10 wins(now 4) in the same week sub 20 years of age.

[gzhpcu]

Tsitsipas is now the first player under 20 to have 4 top 10 ten wins in a tournament. Cliffhanger wins. Never folded. Very likeable too. Mom was a ptrofessional player, dad a tennis coach. Hope he keeps it up! Really came in under the radar.
Reminds me a bit of d'Artagnan, with his looks and happy go lucky attitude.

[stotty]

Zverev is the 1st active player other than Fed, Nadal, Novak, or Murray to win 3 Masters 1000 Titles. Tsitsipas is the 1st player since Nadal(in 2006) to have 3 top 10 wins(now 4) in the same week sub 20 years of age.

True, but these feats have become a little easier since Roger doesn't play as much and Murray is sidelined.

Tsitsipas is a nice player to watch. I got a ground pass this Wimbledon a watched him play Thomas Fabbiano who he beat comfortably. Of the two, Fabbiano hits the ball more sweetly, but he is so small it must be tough to survive on the tour where everyone is at least a foot taller.

But, yes, on a good day, Tsitsipas really flows and is dangerous. It should be an interesting final if he turns up with his A game. I think I will take time out to watch.

[stroke]

So far, Nadal and that forehand in particular have been a real problem for Tsitsipas.

[stotty]

Tsitsipas has barely turned up yet and Nadal is bossing him all over the stadium. Tsitsipas being made to look like a junior right now.

[stotty]

6-2 5-3 to Rafa. Good to see him playing so aggressively on hard courts. This hasn't always been the case. The past six months he's been way more aggressive.

[stotty]

Tsitsipas breaks for 5-5. Rafa took his foot off the gas in the last two games. Tsitsipas has started to play a little now.

[stotty]

Rafa rights the ship in the end, but a decent second set towards the latter half.

[tennis_chiro]

A list of NextGen candidates to take over the top rankings has finally emerged after more than 10 years, but the Big Three are not quite ready to surrender the mantle just yet. I think they have at least another year when Nadal, Federer and Djokovic will, if not quite so dominant, still be the best in the game. But the hitting I saw in the second half of the Tsitsipas/Zverev match was bigger than anything I remember seeing before, particularly the second half of the third set. And then you have to realize that if Cilic had finished off his match against Nadal, the average height of the four semifinalists would have been 6' 6". Look at the quarters: The small guys: Nadal- 6' 1", Haase- 6' 3", Dimitrov- 6' 3". Tsotsipas- a very big 6' 4". The rest: Cilic- 6' 6", Khachanov- 6' 6", Anderson- 6' 8", Zverev- 6' 6". Schwartzman was the only player in the round of 16 under 6'. The other losers in the 16's: 6', 6', 6' 10", 6' 2", 6' 3", 6' 2", 6' 6". But Tsitsipas is the only one (besides Federer) who shows any real interest in ending the points at the net. Isner and Tiafoe were the only Americans in the round of 16. None in the quarters. Not good for the game.

I think Tsitsipas is going to be special. His attitude is superb.

don

[stroke]

I think Zverev and Tsitsipas may end up being the best 2 players since Fed, Nadal, and Djokovic. It is hard to imagine either though ever accomplishing what those 3 have.

[stotty]

No wasted movement on the Tsitsipas forehand. Nice, simple, short backswing. I wouldn't mind studying that in slow motion.

[stroke]

yes, seems to be a very efficient straight arm type 3

[stotty]

yes, seems to be a very efficient straight arm type 3

His racket looks like it's on edge through much of the swing through to contact. It probably isn't but it looks that way to the naked eye. That's why I would like to see it in super slow motion.

[don_budge]

But Every Picture Certainly Tells a Story!

Sometimes the facts do tell a story but always "Every Picture Tells a Story".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnXYXSDUFY4

At any rate...here is the petulant one Alexander Zverev making a statement at his after match chat with the press. But Stefanos is ready for the belly-aching. He handles it with spin...you spin to me, I spin to you. Zverev tried to take all of the credit away from his opponent who he had defeated the week before but came up short in Montreal...or wherever they were. You'll have to forgive me. Jet Lag. I've been out of it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9GaFZw-czY

Tsitsipas is extremely clever and he further demonstrates this in the interview. He cleverly handles the spin from Zverev that neither player played well. He ignores the comment and then he lays on a haymaker. He says he outsmarted the petulant one. This is another aspect or perhaps the singular most likeable aspect of young Stefanos...he is extremely clever. I noticed that on a key point with Kevin Anderson he hit such a clever lob over the giant South African. Tsitsipas knows how to play shots that give him a shot of getting back into a point in seemingly impossible situations and he does it many times with clever lobs.

He is young and still very wet behind the ears and you see this at times. I thought he looked a bit amateurish in his loss at Wimbledon against big serving John Isner. Not a particularly easy player to play against. But he shows a tremendous amount of resilience in that if you beat him once he is going to come back at you the next time. He is not overly impressed with anyone and this showed against Nadal as well. Nadal has beaten him a couple of times but he doesn't show any quit in him. He can get behind a set and he is not out of the match. Not by any stretch of the imagination and not against anyone. I look forwards to the first match he plays against Roger Federer. We might just see a replay of when the young Federer met an ageing Pete Sampras at Wimbledon.

Tsitsipas reminds me a bit of Bjorn Borg in a sense. He showed great promise in the interview room as well. The very first time I saw him play I was intrigued by the possibilities. It's great to see everyone else jumping on board...for instance the announcers etc. I do worry about his over hype now much as it has all but confused Alexander Zverev. I don't see the same potential in the Zverev game as I do in Tsitsipas. You see...Stefanos is going to be developing a lot over the next couple of years. He still has a tremendous amount of potential which is another way of saying he has a lot of room for improvement. With his style of game there are limitless possibilities because you can factor in net play and approach tactics whereas Zverev is forever a baseliner like his model Novak Djokovic. Obviously Djokovic has had great success but he may just have reached his limit...a lot sooner than say a Roger Federer who likewise had so much potential that he only needed to change his racquet to realize even more of that deep well of potential.

All that I can say about Stefanos is that it is wonderful to hear him talk so reasonably and soundly. His mention of outwitting an opponent really resonates with me. Why try and "overpower" an opponent who is based solely on power? Throw in a bit of clever play and take him out of his game. After all...what is power? Control is power. What is Control? Control is various combinations of three components...speed, spin and placement. There aren't too many players out there talking about the game like Stefanos did in this short interview. In fact I can only think of one.

[don_budge]

Tsitsipas is now the first player under 20 to have 4 top 10 ten wins in a tournament. Cliffhanger wins. Never folded. Very likeable too. Mom was a ptrofessional player, dad a tennis coach. Hope he keeps it up! Really came in under the radar.
Reminds me a bit of d'Artagnan, with his looks and happy go lucky attitude.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnXYXSDUFY4

Nice comparison in d'Artagnan. The sword play...the looks and attitude. He shows us the sharpness of his tongue here without being obvious. Tremendous composure. Zverev...not.