Stefanos Tsitsipas acknowledges he and Daniil Medvedev don't have the best history but admits that he now respects the Russian far more and that their relationship has been changing for the better over the last couple of years.
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Before becoming two of the best players in the game, they clashed for the first time at the 2018 Miami Masters. And it featured major drama after the Russian confronted the Greek following the match and even wanted to fight him. Later, the two traded jabs in public interviews and there was also that Australian Open match several years ago when the 28-year-old Russian got extremely annoyed with the 26-year-old's Greek father.
However, since the last incident between world No. 5 Medvedev and 12th-ranked Tsitsipas, a couple of years have passed and their last meetings didn't feature any tense moments between the two. Also, there have been several instances where they actually spoke positively about each other.
Now, they are set to clash against each other for the first time this season in the Shanghai Masters round-of-16. As expected, the Greek's press conference could not have gone without him being asked about his relationship with the Russian.
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"I consider him someone that I respect on the tour, much more than I did before. We've had some heated things on the court in the past, but I think those things have resolved themselves over time, and obviously we also had the time to speak about those things and have a common understanding of why these things happen," Tsitsipas explained.
"I always want to resolve things like that, I don't want to leave them. It took awhile, obviously, a pretty long time, but it's good to kind of get it out of the way, and making sure our tennis brings peace instead of a war. It's a war zone when you're out there on the court trying to, obviously, fight your best and obviously try to get the win, but I feel like tennis should unite instead of separate."
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Do you remember what Medvedev recently said about his relationship with Tsitsipas?
Just three weeks ago, both the Russian and the Greek were at the Laver Cup, representing Team Europe. There, it was the 2021 US Open champion who was asked to share how he feels about the 26-year-old.
Just like Tsitsipas did in Shanghai, Medvedev also noted that there were certain issues between the two in the past. However, he also highlighted that some people used to overblow their feuds and underlined that they now have a much more respectful relationship.
I think there is, you know, I see this in other sports, in tennis, also, especially with social media, we love to -- something happens, let's say I scream on umpire, that's not good, and then for ten years we put it, TikTok, Instagram, this video, they remake it with music, et cetera, we exaggerate things," Medvedev said in Berlin.
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So what happened with me, Sascha, Stefanos, yeah, we played some matches. Sometimes we had some fights. Sometimes someone said something in the press conference. And it's okay. In one month, we don't remember it too much. We still rivals. But people tend to exaggerate it. Oh, my God, they hate each other. It's such a crazy thing. No, it's okay, we respect each other. Here I think we support each other like never before, and it's a funny feeling.
How Tsitsipas hopes to beat Medvedev?
When the two meet at the China Masters event, it will be the 14th time that they will be squaring off against each other. Heading into the match, the Russian former world No. 1 owns a pretty good record, having won nine of those 13 matches.
Also, it should be noted that Tsitsipas' last victory against the six-time Grand Slam finalist came at the 2022 ATP Finals. After that, Medvedev won both of their clashes that took place last year in Rome and Vienna.
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While the Greek hasn't had a great season by any means, he has managed to win his opening two Shanghai matches in straight sets and his mindset against the Russian will be simple - try to play his best tennis and and leave everything out there.
"So far I'm happy with the way my tennis is showing. What is missing is trying to get a good win under my belt, and that for sure will ensure and will redeem my efforts for so far of trying to get better. My whole goal is to get out there, play the best tennis that I can, and let the rest be done on their own," Tsitsipas said.
