French Open: ‘It’s ridiculous, a shame’ – Tearful Stefanos Tsitsipas reacts to shock defeat to Holger Rune

An emotional Stefanos Tsitsipas has given his reaction to his shock defeat to Holger Rune in the fourth round of the French Open.

The Greek fourth seed suffered a surprise loss to the rising star from Denmark as he suffered a 5-7 6-3 3-6 4-6 surprise on Court Philippe-Chatrier a year after reaching the final of the tournament.

Speaking in his post-match press conference very shortly after the match, Tsitsipas was emotional as he reflected upon the defeat and was critical of his own approach to the opportunity that had presented itself to him in the weaker half of the draw.

“I was struggling a lot the last couple of days in terms of finding my rhythm,” he said. “I was very nervous on the court, being frustrated a lot, and I knew I was this way, but I couldn’t stop being like this.

“Especially when you feel like there have been a few changes in terms of equipment and stuff like that, but I wouldn’t attribute that to the equipment, I wouldn’t put all of the blame on the equipment because it’s something that I chose for my personal progress and getting better.

“[I didn’t feel the pressure] absolutely not. I don’t watch draws, I don’t watch my next opponents. I pretty much know the progress and the way I need to do things in order to get to where I was last year and that doesn’t come easy, for sure. But you’ve kind of experienced it before and you know what is required for you to have a high chance and have a high stake of making it back to the final.

“Of course, I knew I’m going to have to play difficult opponents that know how to play on this surface, but mentally, physically, tennis-wise, I felt good. It’s just that I had a few troubles in practice. Again, back to frustration, back to not understanding certain things and certain patterns that I was trying to impose.

“You know, you do have this in the back of your head, having kind of changed a little bit of that equipment, playing with something that has helped you a lot last year get to a pretty good result, finals for the first time, it kind of stays back in your head that maybe I shouldn’t have done that. But no blame there, I think it actually helps me and I just hope it serves its purpose and the way I want it to be in the next couple of weeks because I want to get as many points as possible.”

On his opponent, Tsitsipas said: “Well, [Rune] is young, he plays with a lot of emotion. A one-of-a-kind opponent, I would say. Like, a very emotional opponent; [it] always seems like something’s bothering him when he plays. Actually, that’s how I saw it.

“It’s kind of strange, I don’t get to face that very often from someone. But then suddenly [he] seems to be playing amazing, which is a good thing, of course. He is a very emotional player, he can play great, he absolutely deserves this victory, played better, faced crucial tough moments better.

“But I can see something different next time with this opponent. I’m pretty convinced I can do way better. This is not where I’ve maxed out, let’s say. I didn’t give myself the opportunity to max out. It’s not that he didn’t give me… I didn’t give myself the opportunity to go all the way, and that is a shame.

“I wasn’t really applying a lot of pressure, it was ridiculous at a point, and again I was stubborn, I was stubborn to change it, I didn’t want to change because it has helped me before, it has brought good results. But again, like I need to adjust way quicker, it’s too late for this stuff.”

For the exciting Rune, he now has the opportunity to target the semi-finals as he prepares to take on the eighth seed from Norway, Casper Ruud, in their quarter-final.

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