Stefanos Tsitsipas makes revealing ‘humility’ admission after surprise Madrid exit
Stefanos Tsitsipas will approach his Madrid Open exit with “humility” after becoming one of the first big-name casualties of the Masters 1000 event.
One of the title favourites in the Spanish capital, sixth seed Tsitsipas was stunned 6-4, 6-4 by Brazilian qualifier Thiago Monteiro in his opening match on Saturday.
The Greek, currently ranked seventh in the world, was the first top-20 seed to be beaten at the event, and the loss comes as some surprise considering his recent resurgence.
Having dropped out of the top 10 earlier this year, Tsitsipas seemingly recaptured his form over the past fortnight, winning the Monte Carlo Masters and reaching the final in Barcelona.
A former finalist in Madrid, Tsitsipas was expected to go deep this fortnight, though will now face around two weeks off before the Italian Open in Rome.
And in his post-match press conference, he conceded that he would “focus on the process” and not take the loss too negatively.
He said: “I really have to continue with the humility that I have been showing the last few months and focus on the process that comes with our sport.
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“What I’m taking away from this is I saw a few improvements that I managed to make throughout the match. They were quite late. They came quite late during the match.
“But I think I try and understand from these improvements that I made and reinforce them next time I step out on the court and I’m faced with the same situation again, playing a player who is hungry to beat me, playing a player who is literally grinding, has played a few challengers in the last few months.
“These are the type of opponents that for sure you should be more alert being faced against.”
World No 118 Monteiro delivered an extraordinary performance to down his Greek opponent, with the Brazilian now having won four matches across qualifying and the main draw.
He did face some pressure towards the end, missing two match points returning at 5-3 up before having to save a break point when serving out the match out.
Tsitsipas admitted that he needed to have returned as well as he did in the final game throughout the match.
“I just wish I was able to return the way I did in the last game,” he added.
“I felt out of rhythm the entire match on my returns. I felt very unbalanced and like my body was going all over the place.
“I would like to congratulate [Monteiro]. I have nothing to say on behalf of me. Great match from his side. This is tennis.”
