“Reached Almost Perfection”: Stefanos Tsitsipas Heaps Praise on Novak Djokovic After French Open 2020 Loss

Stefanos Tsitsipas was cramping quite badly after almost four hours on court as he attempted to make an unthinkable comeback against Novak Djokovic in the French Open 2020 semi-finals. The Greek youngster stretched Djokovic to five sets but did not have enough left in the tank when it mattered.

On the other hand, Djokovic looked fit and fresh, almost like he did in the early stages of the match. While Djokovic squandered a two-set lead, he was superior to his opponent in many aspects of his game. Tsitsipas highlighted the difference between the two players on Friday and stated that Djokovic has reached ‘almost perfection’.

“For sure he has reached almost perfection, Novak, in his game style, the way he plays. Which is unbelievable to see honestly,” Tsitsipas said in his post-match presser.

The key factors behind Djokovic’s win

He said that watching Djokovic play that way inspires him to do the same. “That inspires me a lot to go out and work and try to reach that perfectionism. That ability to have everything on the court,” Tsitsipas continued.

The 22-year-old was under pressure on his serve, throughout the match. While he fought hard and saved numerous break-points in the fourth set, Djokovic, as he does often, tightened the screws when he needed to. The Greek star said, “He puts a lot of pressure on his return. It’s not easy. I think there are a lot of things that I have to work on.”

Tsitsipas further highlighted that not having easy games behind his serve hurt his chances a lot against Djokovic. This highlights Djokovic’s ability to raise his game on the big points.

How Novak Djokovic was strong behind the return and serve

“I didn’t have many games where love or easy games that I managed to win,” Tsitsipas said. “That shows a lot of good qualities from Novak, of course, his fighting abilities on the court,” he added.

At the same time, Tsitsipas feels he could have done much more on Djokovic’s serve. “His serve was good today. I wasn’t creating much damage on the return. I could have done much more. Was very passive on my returns,” Tsitsipas expressed.

While the reigning ATP Finals champion showed quite a few good qualities himself, he was always playing catch up against Djokovic. It is noteworthy that Djokovic who struggled with an injury in his last match showed no signs of the same against Tsitsipas, which reflects his ability to recover and his fitness levels. It is sure to be tested on Sunday.