“Calm and Confident”: Stefanos Tsitsipas Reveals Reason Behind Idolizing Pete Sampras

The first-half of 2021 season has been a glorious dream for Greek’s tennis icon Stefanos Tsitsipas as he reached the finals of French Open and managed to reach the final four at Australian Open. But, the second half has been a chaotic nightmare for Tsitsipas so far.

It all started with his defeat to Frances Tiafoe in the first round at Wimbledon Championships. Since then, the Greek star couldn’t manage to clinch a title on-tour. At the recently concluded Paris Masters, Tsitsipas retired midway from his opening round matchup against Alexei Popyrin due to an arm injury.

In a recent interview, the world no.4 opened up about several aspects about himself on and off the court. When asked about his idol growing up, Tsitsipas wasted little time to mention the name of Pete Sampras.

Stefanos Tsitsipas names his idol while growing up

“Pete Sampras. I admired his serve and volley game. And I was very impressed by how calm and confident he was on the pitch”, Tsitsipas said.

In a way, Tsitsipas incorporated the serve-and-volley style of tennis from ‘Pistol’ Pete and he was only one of the few stars to regularly implement the tactic on a tennis court.

Along with Sampras, the Greek player always mentioned Roger Federer as one of his idols from a very young age. In arguably one of the most important matches of his career, Tsitsipas dragged the limelight away from Federer when he defeated the Swiss in the fourth round of 2019 Australian Open.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – JANUARY 20: Stefanos Tsitsipas (R) of Greece and Roger Federer of Switzerland congratulate each other after Australian Open 2019 Men’s Singles match in Melbourne, Australia on January 20, 2019. Stefanos Tsitsipas won the match with 3-2. (Photo by Recep Sakar/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

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Tsitsipas would be looking to end the season on a high at the World Tour Finals in Turin

2019 was also the year where Tsitsipas managed to turn the attention of many of tennis fans by winning three titles (Estoril, Marseille, World Tour Finals). While last year was largely forgettable for the Greek, he executed his plans perfectly this year, at-least till the first half of the season.

Despite shoddy performances in the latter half, Tsitsipas can still turn it around at the year-end championships to be held in Turin. Last year at the world-tour finals, the Greek couldn’t make it to the semis as he lost to Dominic Thiem and Rafael Nadal in round-robin stage matches.

Oct 12, 2021; Indian Wells, CA, USA; Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE) hits a shot against Fabio Fognini (ITA) during a third round match in the BNP Paribas Open at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

At the marquee event that marks the end of the tennis season, Tsitsipas is seeded fourth and will have a gigantic task of defeating the likes of Novak Djokovic, Daniil Medvedev, Alexander Zverev, Andrey Rublev, and others to have any chance of making it to the semis.

Also read: Stefanos Tsitsipas Backs Roger Federer, Says He Will Make ‘Another Comeback’

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