During his post-match press conference, the Greek was asked about his career aspirations now that he had reached the mid-20s. In response, Tsitsipas claimed that he sets goals every year regardless of the ocassion, and that he had already achieved most of his objectives for 2021.
Stefanos Tsitsipas did, however, admit that he sometimes wished he was younger than he actually was.
Stefanos Tsitsipas had dropped four of his seven matches before arriving in Toronto, but he was in his element against Karen Khachanov on Thursday. Tsitsipas won 93% of his first-serve points, while breaking his opponent three times en route to a 6-3, 6-2 victory.
Tsitsipas expressed during his presser that he felt at home on the courts of the Aviva Tennis Center in Toronto. The 23-year-old had made his Masters breakthrough at this very tournament in 2018, reaching the final after wins over Novak Djokovic and Alexander Zverev.
He also claimed he was looking forward to a high-quality encounter with Casper Ruud in the quarterfinals on Friday. Tsitsipas lost to Ruud in their only previous encounter, which came at the Madrid Open earlier this year.
Tsitsipas then heaped praise on Ruud, pointing out that the Norwegian’s game had seen considerable improvement over the last few weeks. The Greek also lauded Ruud’s claycourt campaign this year, during which he won back-to-back titles in Bastad, Gstaad and Kitzbuhel.
“We grew up playing each other, playing as the same age as mine, it can be quite intense” - Stefanos Tsitsipas on facing Casper Ruud
Stefanos Tsitsipas went on to add that Casper Ruud is an all-round player whose ‘serve +1’ combination is one of the most effective on the ATP tour.
The Greek further disclosed that the two had played each other regularly during their junior days. Ruud at 22 is just a few months younger than Tsitsipas.
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