World No. 6 Stefanos Tsitsipas recently shared his thoughts on his 2023 Australian Open final loss to Novak Djokovic.
Djokovic downed Tsitsipas to lay hands on the Norman Brooks Challenge Cup for the 10th time in his career. He was quick off the blocks against Tsitsipas, as he secured the opening set comfortably with a margin of 6-3.
The Greek proved to be a tough nut to crack for his opponent as the following two sets were decided in tiebreaks. The Serb, however, prevailed on the back of a dominant first-serve performance by taking the second and third set 7-6(4), 7-6(5).
Tsitsipas, who is currently in Perth, Australia, for Greece’s United Cup campaign, has fared well during the happy Slam over the years. He has three semifinal appearances against his name from 2019, 2021 and 2022 Down Under.
Speaking to the United Cup recently, the World No. 6 opened up about the aforementioned summit clash. He said:
“This year’s final was close. I was there, playing a final at the Aussie Open and it felt like that was my moment, big things were coming. I wasn’t able to close through, but I really need to keep on pushing.”
Tsitsipas further affirmed to put in intense efforts to end up as a winner at the Melbourne Major.
“Novak has a lot of finals under his belt and I feel like with the right consistency, with the right attitude, moments like this would occur again. There’s a lot of effort behind that and I’m willing to keep up with all the intensity that is required in order to get there,” the Greek said.
Notably, the final in January 2023 was Tsitsipas’ 13th meeting with Djokovic and the duo have not squared off since then.
Novak Djokovic leads the head-to-head tally against Stefanos Tsitsipas
Novak Djokovic has registered 11 victories over Stefanos Tsitsipas in their 13 meetings so far.
The duo first took on each other in the year 2018 at the Canadian Open, where Tsitsipas scored a surprise win over the 24-time Grand Slam champion. The Greek defeated his opponent 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-3.
The Serb avenged the loss in 2019 by trouncing the 25-year-old in the final at the Madrid Open. Tsitsipas took a 2-1 lead in head-to-head by winning their next meeting at the Shanghai Masters a few months later.
The 2019 win in China, however, remains the Greek’s last win against Djokovic, as the latter clinched wins in the next ten duels.