“This is a serious heist,” World no. 7 Stefanos Tsitsipas gets real on lessons from 11 defeats against Novak Djokovic

Tsitsipas and Djokovic have played against each other a total of 13 times.

“This is a serious heist,” World no. 7 Stefanos Tsitsipas gets real on lessons from 11 defeats against Novak Djokovic

Stefanos Tsitsipas (L), Novak Djokovic (R) (Sources: Sky Sports/ Eurosport)

Greek tennis player Stefanos Tsitsipas recently talked about what a big challenge it is to face Novak Djokovic. He said that the Serb is now very different from the player he used to be in 2020 and he constantly keeps on improving himself.

Tsitsipas took on the 24-time Grand Slam winner in the final of the 2023 Australian Open and there is a chance that the two might meet again in the tournament this year. 

The Australian Open was the only tournament in which Tsitsipas performed well last year. After that, his campaign was scarred with consistent injuries and he even recently had to withdraw from a number of tournaments midway through, namely the ATP Finals and the United Cup. The Greek is definitely not in his best shape yet and he said that one must be in his best condition to challenge Novak. 

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Against Novak you need to be in your best possible shape. There are no excuses with him. You can’t fool around for a single point so your levels of concentration against him have to be the highest that you can reach. It’s difficult at times to fight back and find something because he has added a lot of strategy and simplicity as well. He doesn’t over-complicate things.
Tsitsipas said. (H/T: The Guardian)

The 25-year-old will look to make a comeback in form at the Australian Open this year. He withdrew from the United Cup midway through recently for the same reason as he wanted to devote his full focus and physical capacity to the Grand Slam at hand. Stefanos Tsitsipas is the seventh seed in the tournament. 

Stefanos Tsitsipas praises Novak Djokovic’s fitness 

Tsitsipas went on to praise Djokovic’s fitness and athleticism and attribute that to his success. He said that despite not being the tallest player; he has the best serves. Thus, the Greek admitted that facing the Serb feels like a ‘serious heist’.

Stefanos Tsitsipas and Novak Djokovic
Stefanos Tsitsipas and Novak Djokovic (Source: Open Source/X)
His flexibility is mind-blowing, the way he can stretch and run, and also the precision of his shot-making. Not the tallest guy on the tour but he remains one of the toughest servers. Whenever we face Novak we know that this is a serious heist and most of the time it does not work out. 

Tsitsipas and Djokovic have played against each other a total of 13 times. The Serb emerged victorious in 11 of those matches, while Tsitsipas was able to outsmart him twice. 

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