Stefanos Tsitsipas ‘cried’ after losing Grand Slam final to Novak Djokovic

Stefanos Tsitsipas has reflected on his two Grand Slam final defeats to Novak Djokovic, and how he felt very differently after the Australian Open compared to Roland Garros.

Tsitsipas reached the Roland Garros final in 2021, and was two sets up before the Serb fought back to win the match, 6(6)-7 2-6 6-3 6-2 6-4.

The Greek suffered a much simpler loss at the most recent major, losing the Australian Open final in straight sets, and spoke of how much easier it was to handle that defeat.

“What was different for me personally was that I was actually able to move on from that [Australian Open] loss immediately right during the ceremony, like a few minutes later,” said the 24-year-old.

When looking back at that Roland Garros final, Tsitsipas said, “I’ve dealt with it previously and it hurt a lot.”

He continued, “Especially when I was bringing myself back to the fact that I was so close to winning and being two sets to love up.”

The No.3 spoke about how emotional he was after losing in Paris, having been only a set away from becoming the first Greek Grand Slam champion.

“But reflecting on it later on, it hurt and I did cry. I was very upset,” Tsitsipas said. “It was an opportunity for me to do something that I had not done before. I started thinking of Stefanos as a kid, as an eight-year-old and watching the French Open and thinking how cool it would be even to play there.”