Stefanos Tsitsipas booked his place in the second round of Wimbledon with a comfortable opening victory.
The Greek star defeated Frenchman Hugo Gaston in straight sets, 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 on the opening day of the Championships.
Tsitsipas‘ triumph comes just a day after he ended the player-coach relationship with his father, Apostolos, for the second time, just 11 months after reconnecting.
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The win was his first at Wimbledon since 2024, having crashed out in the opening round at last year’s edition.
Despite never making it past round four in SW19, Tsitsipas maintains he has a positive relationship with grass.
Stefanos Tsitsipas describes his relationship with grass
Speaking in his post-match press conference, Tsitsipas said: “We don’t have grass courts in Greece. We don’t have any grass courts in Greece. I wish I was Australian sometimes.
“I grew up playing on clay. I remember the first time I stepped out on grass was probably when I was 16 years old playing Junior Wimbledon.
“It was a mesmerizing experience for me playing on a surface I never imagined I would be able to play and at such high level. But here I am, practicing in it, playing, competing on my Wimbledon dream tournament.
“Me and grass have a good relationship. I mean, I haven’t done incredibly well at Wimbledon of maybe semifinals or quarterfinals or whatever. My best result has been the fourth round. But I have always had a good relationship with grass.
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“I know some people have been talking about it in a negative way. I find it a new challenge, and I think tennis needs challenges.
“You need challenges to move forward in life. In my sport, for some people it’s grass. I find it as an interesting little adventure that I get to explore, and I think my game suits really well for the grass court surface.
“I think we have a really good chemistry of whatever I’m trying to do out there. And in regard to the surface, I think it’s a perfect blend.”
Stefanos Tsitsipas determined after coaching split
Tsitsipas continued: “I’m missing the way I have been playing the last couple of years. And today while I was on the court, I was thinking of the great fights that I have had previously at Wimbledon, playing some years back.
“Regardless of the result, I always felt like I was coming into this tournament with a lot of determination, with a lot of love for the grass, and always played my best that I knew at the time.
“So today’s match was a little bit of a throwback mentally of how I started this journey playing at Wimbledon, playing at juniors, and trying to go far. I produced some really good tennis.
“I was trying to revisit some of my qualities and some of the ways I have been thinking and doing certain things from the past, and tried to apply those in a structural, well-mannered way in today’s match. So I’m just going to continue doing that and see where that brings me.”
Tsitsipas has not made it past the second round at a Grand Slam so far this year.
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