Stefanos Tsitsipas criticised Andrey Rublev’s lack of creativity after the Greek exited the Nitto ATP Finals.
Tsitsipas fell short of the semi-finals in Turin after he was outpowered by Rublev 3-6 6-3 6-2 in 1 hour and 45 minutes.
The Russian will now play Casper Ruud in the last four on Saturday evening and after the match Rublev was happy with his performance, “In the end I was able to start to play better and better. In the end I was able to turn around the match. I’m happy,” Rublev said in his press conference.
“That I was keep fighting and keep just saying to myself doesn’t matter how he’s playing, how good he’s playing, just fight for every ball,” Rublev said in response to what aspect of his game he was most proud of.
However that wasn’t the main story of the evening’s post-match press conferences as Tsitsipas commented on his defeat afterwards.
In a strange turn of events, Tsitsipas told the press that not only he was the better player but that Rublev wasn’t creative enough, “I mean, he’s a good returner. Nothing to take away from him. He played a lot of returns in. I tried to mix it up at the end,” Tsitsipas admitted before criticising the Russian.
“I didn’t really feel threatened. I just wanted to try something new, to see if it might work, throw him off a little bit. It’s a shame. I feel like the better player. I felt like I could do more with the ball today. I felt like I could just be much more creative. I don’t even have to say that. I think it’s quite obvious.
“But, yeah, he prevailed with the few tools that he has. He was able to really take advantage of them and win today.”
A strange outburst from Tsitsipas as he now reflects on his season ahead of next season.
In response Rublev denied the claims and said that the matches he and Tsitsipas have had have been tough battles, “I mean, I don’t know if I have few tools or not. If we go shot by shot, I think his backhand is better than mind. His forehand is not better than mine,” Rublev told the press.
“The speed serve is not better than mine. He’s faster. He play much better than it. If we go for best shot, I don’t think… Obviously he’s better player because he’s higher ranked and he achieved better results. It’s obvious. There is no doubt.
“But I don’t think that I beat him because of few tools. If you take our match, every match, we have tough battles. This year I lost to him twice in three sets, and now I beat him in three sets.
“We always have some tough matches. Only one final in Monte-Carlo that he played really well and he destroy me quite easy, but the rest was always tough matches.”
Rublev’s match with Ruud will be his 10th semi-final of the season and the Russian leads their head-to-head 4-1.
