Stefanos Tsitsipas admitted he "was not ready" to face Rafael Nadal in the 2018 Barcelona Open final and there were several different reasons why that was the case.
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In the spring of 2018, the Greek - who was just 19 at the time - won five matches to make the Barcelona final in his debut.
As a reward, he got a chance to square up against the greatest clay court player ever but also the absolute home favorite.
But it was never a competitive match as Nadal routinely handled the business that day and won 6-2 6-1 in an hour and 17 minutes of play.
On the latest episode of Caroline Garcia's podcast, Tsitsipas was a guest.
"I remember thinking to myself, how did that even happen. I was not ready for Rafael Nadal," the 26-year-old said on the Tennis Insider Club.
"I thought I might have a chance because Im like, 'Im playing good, why not?' And you know, you are young, you are stubborn, you are thinking so many different things at the time.
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Tsitsipas: I wasn't physically ready nor my clay tennis IQ was good enough
Reflecting on the final, the current world No. 12 candidly admitted that "there was no chance he could have won" that day and also added that there wasn't anything he could have done to change the outcome of the match.
Then, he explained why.
"I was just physically not ready because comparing myself to what I was back now, I was physically not even 50% of what I am now. And my tennis IQ and my IQ of how to play on clay was not as good as it is now. So, definitely not, Tsitsipas added.
After the Barcelona final, the Greek also lost the following two matches against Nadal but claimed his first win over the Spaniard at the 2019 Madrid Masters.
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In the end, Tsitsipas finished with two wins and seven losses against the Spanish tennis icon.
