Stefanos Tsitsipas, 24, is confident he can go all the way at the Australian Open as he insists he is “a different player” now. Tsitsipas, number 4 in the world, got rid of Jiri Lehecka 6-3, 7-6 (3) and 6-4 to reach the semifinal of the Australian Open.
When Tsitsipas faces Karen Khachanov in her next match, it will be her fourth Australian Open semifinal. Previously, Tsitsipas suffered Australian Open semifinal losses in 2019, 2021 and 2022. But now Tsitsipas feels that the result will be different.
“I feel great about my tennis. I don’t think I’ve felt this good in a long time. I’ll definitely say yes [to winning the title]. I have said it, I am a different player, I play different. My mentality is different. When I’m on the track, I don’t think about negative things, really.
I just go out to play. There is a way of watching tennis where you are exhausted after every match. Every single thing you try to do on the track requires a lot of effort. There’s another version of tennis where you do your job, but you enjoy it so much that you don’t care if it’s exhausting or not.
It refreshes you every time. I think lately I’ve been heading more towards that than the other. I am very happy to be on the pitch. I am very happy to perform. I am very happy to make good shots, to go in. All this dynamic has made me very hungry and has made me want to play tennis and achieve new things,” Tsitsipas said, according to Eurosport.
Heading into the Australian Open semifinal, Tsitsipas is the favorite to defeat Khachanov. Tsitsipas is a resounding 5-0 head-to-head against Khachanov. The Greek has also reached his fourth semifinal at the Australian Open in the last five years.
Tsitsipas will next face the 18th seed Karen Khachanov
World No. 4 Stefanos Tsitsipas recently discussed the ‘Next Gen’ of tennis and how he is not afraid of being overshadowed by them. “I passed through this myself. At some point it fades out a little bit ’cause you are an adult.
You are not any more a kid. These guys are still sort of in the transition mode. They’re still there,” Tsitsipas said. “I had my fair share of that. Now I’m looking forward to kind of move forward from there. There’s no other ‘gen’ after that, it’s just adulthood,” he added.
“I approach every single opponent of mine with the same mindset. I never put labels on them. Each and every match that I get to play against them is a new chapter in my book,” Stefanos Tsitsipas said.
