Stefanos Tsitsipas news: ‘I proved him wrong,’ jokes Greek after reaching Australian Open semi-final

Australian Open
Joy for Stefanos Tsitsipas after a win

The Stefanos Tsitsipas juggernaut reached the semi-final of the Australian Open with a masterclass against Jannik Sinner, and after the match the Greek was happy that he managed to prove his surgeon wrong.

There were big clouds looming over Tsitsipas’ appearance at the season-opening Grand Slam after he underwent surgery on his right elbow at the end of November.

At one stage his surgeon admitted that it is doubtful that he would play at Melbourne Park yet the Greek returned to action at the ATP Cup and now finds himself in the last-four of the Australian Open.

There were no signs of being troubled by his elbow on Wednesday as he brushed aside Sinner 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 on Rod Laver Arena.

During the on-court interview he revealed that playing at the Australian Open was not “part of the plan”.

“I’m pretty sure my doctor is watching right now,” he said. “He has been sending me texts after every single game. We both didn’t expect for me to participate in the Australian Open. It was not part of our plan, he told me ‘I don’t see you playing in Australia’, but I proved him wrong.”

Tsitsipas was in blistering form against Italian Sinner as he broke early in each of the three sets to comfortably move into the last four.

“I think my humility helped a lot today,” he said. “I knew I was going on the court facing a very good player so I stayed in tact. I tried to focus on my best shots and it paid off more than I thought.

“I’m very happy with the way I served today and the way I tried to come in and use my tactics.”

Jannik Sinner Stefanos Tsitsipas

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