When this match began the morning of 27th Jan 2023, we thought we’d be in for a thriller. However, initial signs of dominance were shown by Stefanos Tsitsipas who was seeded number #3 in this tournament and to be honest, we haven’t seen him playing such good tennis in a long time. And it’s great that he decided to bring it out when it matters most during the Australian Open 2023 semi final.
His opponent was Russia’s Karen Khachanov who didn’t seem to be any match for the Greek player at all, losing the first couple of sets 6-7 and 4-6. Ad while there were clear technical errors in his game in the semi final, he fought till the last minute, breaking Tsitsipas when the latter was serving for a spot in his second grand slam finals.
Aus Open 2023 – Stefanos Tsitsipas
There was a slight shift in momentum in the final stages of that third set and Khachanov made the most of it, saving a couple of match points and winning the third set tie-breaker. He couldn’t continue the resistance much longer, losing 3-6 in the fourth set and with that, Tsitsipas progressed to the second grand slam final of his career.
Khachanov walked off court in a respectful manner after entertaining everyone present at the venue. Post that, all ears and eyes were on Tsitsipas’ post-match interview on court. After 4 semi finals at the Australian Open, he finally progressed to the final and the 24-year old mentioned how he watched Marcos Baghdatis do it many years ago, considering him one of his favourite players of all-time.
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“I feel blessed that I can play tennis at this level,” he said, talking about how he’s managed to put Greek tennis on the map, alongside with his countrywoman, Maria Sakkari. The main talking point of his interview though was the fact that there’s a new member in his coaching staff along with his dad – former tennis player, Mark Philippoussis.
The interviewer asked Tsitsipas what Philippoussis adds to the team and Tsitsipas quickly replied, “A sense of humour.” There was a round of laughter and applause across the stadium and once it died down, the number #5 seed said that jokes apart, he has added a good serve and volley to his game, which he doesn’t use much but it’s available whenever he needs to use it. Excerpts from his interview:
Tsitsipas on court interview: “I first watched Marcos Baghdatis do it a couple years ago… I dreamed as a kid to maybe one day get to play on this court & compete against the best players in the world… unfortunately it didn’t go his way, but he’s in our hearts” pic.twitter.com/aiTreK4Ppm
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) January 27, 2023
Tsitsipas then spoke about how he will love it if he makes the world number #1 rank. And to do so, he needs to win the 2023 Australian Open final which takes place on Sunday, against the winner of the Novak Djokovic vs Tommy Paul game. He asked the crowd to get behind him and said that he’d love to win his maiden grand slam title in this place of great significance, Australia.
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