Stefanos Tsitsipas stormed past Benoit Paire in the first round of the Ultimate Tennis Showdown but could not beat Matteo Berrettini in the final.
Stefanos Tsitsipas hadn't been enjoying his time in the ATP circuit of late. The Greek professional tennis player, who is the youngest player ranked in the ATP top 10 and has achieved the best ranking of No. 5 in the world, recently lost in the semifinal of the 2021 Australian Open.
Tsitsipas registered a comfortable win in straight sets over Gilles Simon in the first round of the 2021 Australian Open before surviving a five set cracker with Thanasi Kokkinakis. He then got the better of Mikael Ymer in straight sets before being given over a walkover by an injured Matteo Berrettini.
Tsitsipas became only the second player, alongside Fabio Fognini at the 2015 US Open, to defeat Rafael Nadal in a grand slam match from two sets to love down as he won the quarterfinals. In the semis, he was beaten by Daniil Medvedev.
Post the experience, Tsitsipas has had some frank things to say about the ATP circuit. He said that the ATP circuit had become sad, boring and ridiculous due to the Covid-19 restrictions. He then went away to feature in the Ultimate Tennis Showdown and Miami.
In the first round of Ultimate Tennis Showdown, Greek tennis star Stefanos Tsitsipas wasn't sure of what he was getting into in the clash against Benoit Paire. During their Acapulco first round clash, Tsitsipas came out with flying colours, beating Paire 6-3 6-1.
“I didn't know what to expect from Benoit today,” Tsitsipas said after the easy win in which he claimed four breaks in the match and lost no service games. “I think it's kind of tricky playing a tournament you haven’t played before. I felt very responsible and very truthful to the way I was playing and the way I was fighting so that was really nice to see. The crowd brought all the energy, they backed me up, they supported me throughout the entire match."
"Playing in closed stadiums without any atmosphere isn't why I play tennis. I had to stay either at the hotel or at the tennis club and be forbidden to go out on pain of exclusion and a fine! My goal now will be just to have a smile on the field and enjoy kicking a ball, that I win or lose, I really don't care," he signed off.
