Stefanos Tsitsipas was dejected at his press conference following a loss to Rafael Nadal. Photo / AP
Stefanos Tsitsipas was dejected at his press conference following a loss to Rafael Nadal. Photo / AP
Greek sensation Stefanos Tsitsipas' Australian Open press conference morphed into a therapy session as he tried to pick up the pieces from his devastating dismantling at the hands of Rafael Nadal on Thursday night.
Breaking Tsitispas in the match's third game and then another five times — while never facing a single break point himself until the very last game — Nadal bullied his way to a 6-2 6-4 6-0 victory that put him into his fifth final at Melbourne Park and 25th at all Grand Slam tournaments.
"The whole match felt weird from the very beginning, my body was stiff, he (Nadal) just has a talent to make you play bad, that's it," he said.
"I felt kind of empty in the brain. I felt my reaction time was slow, like everything was not that alert.
"I really don't know how to explain this, I guess from the match that I played before or the whole week that I played here.
"It's a very, very weird feeling, I almost felt like I couldn't play better. I really can't think of something positive from that match."
When asked about Nadal's ability to make him so uncomfortable on court he said: "It felt like a different dimension of tennis completely. He gives you no rhythm, he plays a different game style to the rest of the players, he has this talent … he makes you play badly. I don't know why."
The media conference took a strange turn when a veteran reporter cut in to try and console Tsitsipas with the tale of how Roger Federer was famously bundled out of Wimbledon following his own "changing of the guard" win over American legend Pete Sampras at Wimbledon.
"I saw Roger Federer beating Pete Sampras in 2001," the reporter told a perplexed Tsitsipas.
"Everybody thought he was going to win the tournament or could possibly win the tournament. Then he lost to Tim Henman. He lost in the quarters. Then you know what Federer did afterwards. You shouldn't get depressed."
Tsitsipas' response showed he was still trying to come to terms with how far away he was from Nadal on Thursday night.
"I agree with you," he said.
"I agree with you. But I don't know, I'm just trying to think how Federer beat him so … Similar game style like me. I'm trying to understand. I mean, I don't want to lose to Rafa 10 times."
The reporter's interjection proved to be a strange end to the interview.
In an instant, Tsitsipas' Australian Open fairytale all went wrong.
The 20-year-old world No. 15 has emerged as the leader of the next generation of stars during his run to the final four in Melbourne, which included a breakthrough win over Roger Federer.
It was simply impossible for Tsitsipas to remember his incredible successes this week when speaking to the media after such a crushing defeat at the hands of Nadal.
He spoke with his head buried in his hands at times and spoke dejectedly.
He summed up the night perfectly by saying he could not think of one positive to take from the schooling Nadal dished out.
