Up till now he has never played a final on the surface, but for Greek superstar Stefanos Tsitsipas tennis on the green surface is still something special. ”Lawn tennis is living history“, he said. “If we think back, the beginnings of great tennis history date back to the lawn tournaments in Europe”.
The world’s number five is one of the favourites to win the tournament this time at the 29. TERRA WORTMANN OPEN. But the Greek player doesn’t want to think that far ahead yet; “I want to play good tennis, win a few matches and get used to the lawn”, Tsitsipas states as his expectations for this week. The latter being quite a large task; “You have to unfold your talents on grass, it’s not so much about percentage tennis. You have to come to the net, you have to find your place on the court, and you need a lot of touch”. Overall the highest playing standard was demanded.
Stefanos Tsitsipas wishes for more tournaments on the green surface.”That would be great for tennis”. Equaly great would be a comeback by Roger Federer, the record-holding winner of the TERRA WORTMANN OPEN. ”It seems as though he has won here about 25 times”, Tsitsipas said jokingly on the day after his arrival in East-Westphalia. Not 25 victorys, but still 10. ”We are always talking about Nadal's series in Paris, but this is also quite impressive”. The Maestro was missed on the Tour currently. Federer is Tsitsipas‘s childhood hero and as a child “I never thought I would ever play him“. On the other hand it was a normal development when you got to the worlds’ best. ”Sometimes, however, it is hard to believe that Roger is real – with all his successes and his unbelievable way of playing tennis”. The Swiss player had really raised the bar in tennis.
Unbelievable tennis was also shown lately by Denmark’s super-talented Holger Rune – when he kicked Stefanos Tsitsipas out of the tournament at the French Open. There could be a repetition of this match in the third round in Halle. Is this the chance for revenge? “If a player beats you, you of course want to change something the next time and win”, the Greek player replied to this. In the second round, though, a real challenge may already await him; Nick Kyrgios from Australia. ”Nick is unpredictable. Sometimes he plays unbelievably intensively, and then he suddenly loses focus. You have to try and play a steady game against him“. But before that, Stefanos Tsitsipas is playing Frenchman Bonzi.
