Stefanos Tsitsipas Indian Wells Press Conference after Frances Tiafoe win in Round 3

ready [Applause] play hello everyone let's go straight any questions anybody M sure uh how did that feel today and how do you just curious also in addition to that like you've played Francis a lot how do you prepare for playing him what kind of challenges does he present that makes him difference he presents uh a serious challenge because he's one of those opponents that uh you know he plays loose looser than than any other player on the tour and uh I feel like sometimes that helps him play well um he kind of uh uh makes the pressure disappear of uh of his shoulders uh which I believe lets him play better in certain circumstances and periods of of uh time uh so that makes him dangerous because uh he has the tendency you know to make mix up play to come to the net if he's on a good day with a serve he can be a tricky player to play against I mean you can definitely see that with some of the matches that he has had against the uh top three in the past he has stretched all of them to the very sort of uh um um limits of wining their game and some of them he lost some of them he won um I'm happy with today's Victory because uh you know I had a good start I maintained that throughout the match um of course he was going to fight back at some point and uh and present a more difficult challenge for me in the second set uh and I fought back I held serve and I stayed uh I stayed really like committed to to what I was doing and uh definitely served big on those moments to to kind of uh keep keep the lead and um had a great had great signs of concentration and uh and um and fighting exper uh from very the very first point till the end and of course I think the thing that I did very well today that stood out was uh getting those fresh shots uh which was the serve and the return of serve both uh on both ends I was able to apply pressure and have a good strong start hi a little while ago you wrote your great letter to tennis where you said oh it's my special playground has no rules uh my question sort of relates to that and that you've now traveled for years to all the great sites in our sport uh many people feel this is a very special one if I could put you on the spot what what letter would you write to Indian Welles dear Indian Wells just recreating it um you've been mean to me in the past but I still have lots of love for you and I'm here to make up and create good memories together uh so please give me your love give me your full support and I'm sure I'm going to be your special one than hi step you got to play mixed doubles with paa earlier in the week I'm curious what that experience was like and what it has been like to support her through what has been a pretty frustrating time for her on curries it does uh created difficult time for not just paa but me as well having to to be there and you know keep pushing her to to kind of uh get well and jump back on the court she's kind of been in and out and the most frustrating part about all of this is that uh she did play a few matches and then she started feeling she didn't feel that well again so it has been a tricky time for both of us uh on on my end it's more of a like I'm trying to find the right words and and the and the right things to say Obviously when it does be start in the beginning you have a lot of faith in it and you're like okay you just need to stay committed in the process of healing and getting better but after a while there are't many things you can say because you are confusing exuse yourself of what's happening with the body so I'm just there as much as I can to to keep you know making her feel good that at least we're together and we're trying to find solution together um however I do feel like time will show and soon I'm pretty sure she will be fully healed and ready to go full again anyone else when you play I know it's necessarily a function of you know your ranking dropping a little bit but it's a third round match France is a really tough opponent in the third round it's almost like something like that you would expect quarterfinal fourth round is that something you you got you have to get used to a little bit more is that in your head at all that um it just In This Moment tougher matches might come earlier for you of course it's part of the whole experience being outside the top 10 and that is what you subscribe to uh not being um within within those those High ranked guys uh that's what comes with it and of course I'm prepared for it for any circumstance and uh any new opening or any um any anything different than my occure in my career um I just try and face it as much as good as I can and um deal with it daily any advantage to it getting getting these matches against good guys especially if you get a win um look I give you confidence for later we have seen players that were in the top 10 and dropped out a little bit some of them much further uh it can be tricky for those that are high ranked because some of the players do have that big tennis that they have of course once produced which kept them in the top five and they had big results and maybe something didn't work out at at the time and kind of um push them back in the ranking so these could be tricky matches because I've had those actually in the past against players that do not deserve to be outside the top 20 or 30 and are way better than that in terms of tennis and experience and these can be tricky matches and I feel like uh being some sort of uh Contender for that title let's say um it does perhaps add a bit more pressure to the other guys cuz you know I've proved myself over the last few years that I can be there it's just that it hasn't worked out recently and I'm not at the best sort of tennis shape that I've been in in terms of the last months yeah GRE Gregor uh demitro was talking about the back one handed backand yesterday its beauty and just how complex it is it's just many different aspects to it could you talk about the one-handed backand uh do you like it do you enjoy it complexity Beauty it's flexibility it's a complex shot to master um and to perfect and it takes a lot of time uh to get to a point where you develop an an amazing single-handed back hand uh a one that is a weapon too way more complaints the double-handed backend I also think that the reason people choose um have the tendency to choose the double-handed backand is obviously the ease of it of how uh less complex it is to learn and how you can always support your left hand to close out certain shots or save certain shots that perhaps a single-handed backman would slice instead so these are some of the let's say advantages of it otherwise I do feel like it's the most beautiful sh in tennis I I do believe that it's uh the most difficult thing to learn in tennis uh but of course it had it has its rewards as of uh sort of creating opportunities opening up the cord I think it's it's a massive weapon for uh uh cords that have sort of a high response to the ball uh especially clay cours as well so I do find it a beautiful shot that also if if uh perfected in the right in the right way can be a massive Le Lethal Weapon for for those that uh feel confident hitting that that shot good start all over would you choose the one handed or two uh yes I would start it I feel like I I am part of the players that carry on the legacy of the sing hand backend um if it was not for me if it was not for if it was not for Lorenzo so if it was not for rard uh this shot would barely be seen on the tour so yes it's an old school shot something that people used to play back in the day but it has its modernity these days it has evolved into a modern shot that looks way different than it was hundreds of years ago and I do believe that uh more kids in the future would definitely decide to pursue uh a single-handed backend uh and we might see it at at Big level again perhaps even a lot of players playing playing it inside the top 10 soon thank you if you enjoyed this 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