Tsitsipas defeated Thiem and is looking for a fight with the home legend!

The fate of a tennis tournament can create very interesting stories. Stefanos Tsitsipas found out. Even though he is seeded number five at the London Grand Slam, he met a very good opponent in the first round and is looking for an even tougher opponent in his next match. What is the 24-year-old Greek looking forward to?

This situation has been here before. Dominic Thiem is coming back up from a wrist injury and meets Stefanos Tsitsipas in the early stages of a big tennis event. The first edition of Wednesday’s Wimbledon clash took place in Madrid at the end of April.

In the Spanish capital, Tsitsipas eventually rejoiced in victory, winning the tiebreak of the deciding set. In the first round of Wimbledon, the shortened game came up three times, but the overall result was exactly the same as in Madrid. In the tiebreak of the deciding set, the Greek tennis player took the match for himself.

The five-set battle

In a match that had been played a day earlier, the Austrian took the opening set. However, Tsitsipas won the next two sets for himself and was able to end the match in the tiebreak of the fourth set. It didn’t happen and the match headed to an hour-long fifth set.

In that one, the tennis players held their serves. In the deciding set, both scored 85% of the points after the first serve, both had one break point, which the opponent eliminated, and the Greek won only one more fiftieth than the Austrian in twelve games.

The tiebreak had to be decided in which Tsitsipas reached three match points. Thiem eliminated two of them, and on the third one he attacked the net and the Greek tennis player dropped it with his forehand. Tsitsipas now faces Andy Murray in the second round.

Up to center court

The 24-year-old Greek tennis player will face a home playing legend named Andy Murray. Murray is thirty-six, Tsitsipas remembers well watching the Briton’s journey to Wimbledon triumph in 2013 on television.

So now he will play him alone on the hallowed tennis grounds, and as a paper favourite to boot. However, determining the real favourite for the duel is difficult. The Greek is more than thirty places higher in the rankings. The statistics of the duels between the two men speak of a 1:1 draw.

Moreover, the match will be played on Wimbledon grass, and these are terms that mean something in relation to Murray. One thing is clear. It is impossible not to look forward to this match.

For Murray, Tsitsipas has only words of appreciation and considers Centre Court to be Murray’s living room. He now looks for an invitation to it. “I’ve never played on centre court here, I wish it would work out,” he was heard to say after his match with Thiem.

And that dream will come true for Tsitsipas. His match with Murray is scheduled to be the highlight of Thursday’s programme on Centre Court. If he can handle the match, it is safe to assume that it will definitely not be his last time playing there this year.

Source: Wimbledon, ATP