Stefanos Tsitsipas says “I am born a champion, I can feel it in my blood”

• Stefanos Tsitsipas lost to Novak Djokovic in the Australian Open final.
• The Greek would have ascended to No. 1 in ATP rankings with victory.
• He put on a string of strong performances in Melbourne.

Stefanos Tsitsipas, who lost to Novak Djokovic in the Australian Open final on Sunday, was keen to look back on his tournament run after falling short in a winner-takes-all match to be awarded with both a first Australian Open championship and the world No. 1 ranking.

The Greek, who would have ascended to No. 1 in the ATP Rankings with victory, put on a string of strong performances in Melbourne, giving him hope that his first major championship and ascent to the top spot are imminent.

“But just dreaming about it won’t make it happen. You got to act. You got to do something out there. You got to be present even more and do better. It is definitely much better playing finals than being stuck behind in the semi-finals. I’ll take that for sure. I just need to take that one more step where I can consistently lift trophies and win Slams and Masters 1000 events.”

Since Hyeon Chung in 2018, no opponent has managed to defeat Djokovic at Melbourne Park. If Tsitsipas had won the Sunday final, he would have become the first player ranked in the top 10 to defeat the Serbian in his most successful major since Swiss player Stan Wawrinka in 2014.

“Today was my opportunity to be a world No.1. I had a better opponent on the other side of the net who did things much better than me. He deserves that spot currently,” Tsitsipas said.

“What I can say is being on the tour for a few years now, I get a lot of different experiences, I get a lot of different things that I’m faced with. It’s my time to aim for something like this. I don’t see any reason to be lowering my expectations or my goals.

“I am born a champion. I can feel it in my blood. I can feel it as a competitive kid that I was when I was young. It’s something that is within me.” Despite falling short, Tsitsipas left with high praise for Djokovic whose triumph drew him level with Rafael Nadal on 22 major titles.

“He is the greatest that has ever held a tennis racquet,” Tsitsipas told the Rod Laver Arena crowd.

“Novak is a player that pushes you to your limits. I don’t see this as a curse. I don’t see this as annoying. This is very good for the sport, to have competitors like him, to have champions like him. He has made me a much better player.”

Also Read

Australian Open: Novak Djokovic returned to No. 1 spot in ATP rankings

Novak Djokovic climbed four spots from World No. 5 to secure position....