Rafael Nadal praised Stefanos Tsitsipas after their hard-fought Mubadala World Tennis Championships, in which Nadal claimed a record fifth title at this exhibition tournament.
Tsitsipas stayed neck and neck with Tsitsipas, but he did not convert his break point chances at 4-4 in the second set. Tsitsipas enjoyed a highly successfu season in which he won the ATP Finals in London, two ATP 250 titles in Marseille and Estoril and reached the semifinal at the Australian Open and the final in Dubai and at the Madrid Masters 1000 tournament. He became the youngest Australian Open semifinal since Andy Roddick in 2003. During the 2019 season the Greek star beat Nadal in Madrid semifinal, Federer in the Australian Open fourth round and in the semifinals of the ATP Finals in London and Djokovic in the quarter final in Shanghai. The Athens player is aiming at winning his first Grand Slam title and reach the top three in the ATP Ranking. He will start the 2020 season at the ATP Cup before the Australian Open.
“It’s good that Stefanos has high ambitions. It’s important to have clear goals. You have to realize them and it is not easy because being in the top three is challenging. There are lots of players that will fight to be in the higher positions of the ranking but of course, he had a great season and will fight for significant titles in the future”, said Nadal.
Tsitsipas is pursuing the goal to become the first player not named Federer, Djokovic and Nadal to win a Grand Slam title since Andy Murray in 2016.
“I want to do even better than I did last year. That’s for sure. It’s about trying to play my best at every location. Obviously fan support plays an important role. It is a huge advantage for me playing in Australia. I am trying to eliminate the stress and that also comes from experience. This year was the first time I had points to defend and I was very stressed as it was the first time experiencing something like this. I feel like you have to be relaxed and not think about it because this year I was tense and putting a lot of pressure on myself. If it comes, it comes. I will just keep doing what I am doing”.
