Stefanos Tsitsipas has once again proved why he is a force to be reckoned with on clay. After brushing aside some of the top guns, the Greek tennis star is now a few matches away from his first major triumph at the French Open. However, it won’t be an easy task for him, as the third seed, Carlos Alcaraz, now awaits Tsitsipas in the quarterfinals. Ahead of their blockbuster clash, the current number 9 player revealed how Rafael Nadal once warned him about the young Spanish tennis sensation.

In a press conference at the Roland Garros, the Greek player reminisced about his first impression of his upcoming Spanish opponent. Tsitsipas opened up about how the ‘King of the Clay’ was already hyping up his young compatriot when he was still finding his feet on the ATP Tour.

In a press conference, he said, “I knew when he was coming up as a new player that he’s gonna be good. You could see that. Rafael Nadal was already talking about him at Laver Cup 2019, that was a long time ago.”

Even though he was outside the top 300 rankings on the men’s tour, Tsitsipas realised that Alcaraz was going to be a ‘serious competitor.’ The current number 9 player said, “He was already mentioning him back then, he wasn’t even in top 300 of the ATP Tour. So I knew he was a serious competitor of mine in the next years to come and of course, I was right about my prediction.”

During the conversation, the Greek also recounted his first encounter with the young Spaniard as he opened up about how he wants to ‘replicate’ it in Paris.

“That was a great match”- Stefanos Tsitsipas on his first meeting with Carlos Alcaraz

Back in 2021, Tsitsipas and Alcaraz marked their first meeting at the Grand Slam event in New York. In a five-set thriller, the Spanish player managed to overcome his Greek opponent with a score of 6-3, 4-6, 7-6, 0-6, 7-6. Reminiscing about the same, Tsitsipas recently called it a great match that he wants to replicate at this season’s French Open.

He said, “That was a great match, because we had an amazing battle on Arthur Ashe playing each other. And my goal (in the French Open quarterfinal) is to replicate it, in a way, to get to battle a big fight like this.” Tsitsipas and Alcaraz will square off against each other for the sixth time on the tour, with the Spaniard having a dominating 5-0 lead in their H2H record.

Who do you think will come out on top in this French Open quarterfinal match between Tsitsipas and Alcaraz? Let us know in the comments section.