Stefanos Tsitsipas jokes about withdrawing from mixed doubles with Paula Badosa – ‘I prefer to live’
Stefanos Tsitsipas was relieved that his Wimbledon mixed doubles debut with Paula Badosa is “not a thing anymore”, although does regret missing out on the chance to complete in all three disciplines at the tournament.
The Greek, who reached the third round in the singles on Friday, had signed up for the mixed event with his girlfriend Badosa while he is also in the draw for the men’s doubles alongside his brother Petros.
However, Badosa struggled with a spinal injury in the build-up to the grass-court Grand Slam and she aggravated the injury and was forced to retire from her second-round match against Marta Kostyuk.
Tsitsipas, meanwhile, enjoyed a fine round of 68 outing as he came from two sets to one down to defeat Andy Murray 7-6 (7-3), 6-7 (2-7), 4-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-4 in a match that was played over two days.
When asked after the match about playing singles, men’s doubles and mixed doubles, the 24-year-old said: “Mixed is not a thing anymore, thank God. I prefer to live [smiling].
“It never crossed my mind that I would be doing all three in a single event. But I also see it from the bright side. You can see it from that side. You like tennis so much, you want to be in these Slams for as long as possible. Ideally from the singles draw, you want to be there completing the two-week period the Slam allows you to play.
“But if you see it from the fun side, you love tennis, you want to challenge yourself in singles, doubles, mixed doubles. I personally like mixed doubles. Some players I’ve spoken to try and kind of reduce their speed when they have to go to the other gender on the mixed doubles. I play regular, just the way I play my regular doubles.
“I’ve had a few experiences playing mixed. I liked it. Also mainly because my mixed doubles partner was very good. We were able to communicate really well on court.
“I love mixing it up sometimes. May be difficult physically, but getting all three is an experience. You can always say I’ve done it once at least in my life.”
The fifth seed has had a brutal opening two rounds at Wimbledon as he also needed five sets to defeat Dominic Thiem in the first round.
He will be hoping for an easier match against Laslo Djere, but is “ready for anything”.
“For me, I’m ready for anything pretty much. Unfortunately, I can’t plan of how long I want to play. Sometimes I just have to accept of what comes from the other side of the net, try and work around that,” he said.
“I don’t think I’ve had before two five-setters in a row. You may check that. I don’t remember an occurrence like this in the past on the two first rounds of a Grand Slam. I guess there’s a first time for everything.
“Has been very physical. We’ve been playing, what, these two rounds for four days now. It’s been four days of lots of intensity, just lots of repetition. You have to wake up every morning and do your routines again and again.
“Has been sort of a picnic so far. We’ve been there for a long time.”
