"People went through tough times in the Soviet Union, and I see that from my mom" - Stefanos Tsitsipas on learning value of hard work from his mother

There's no hiding that Stefanos Tsitsipas is fairly close to his family. The Greek No. 1 is coached by his father Apostolos. He often shares the court with brother Petros — with whom he lifted a doubles trophy recently at the European Open.

His connection with tennis, however, comes from his mother Julia Apostoli, who is a former tennis player herself. Born in Moscow in 1964, Julia represented the Soviet Union and Greece (post-marriage) before passing on the gift to her two sons.

Speaking to the media after his loss to Grigor Dimitrov, in the 2023 Paris Masters semifinals, Stefanos Tsitsipas said his mother lived in the Soviet Union when the people were facing several hardships. That, he said, was something that pushed one to be disciplined and hard-working, adding that his mother had instilled these qualities into him from a young age.

"Perhaps the discipline that comes with it," Stefanos Tsitsipas said. "Who am I to know what happened in Soviet Union, but I will tell you something, I feel like these people back then went through hardships and tough times, and I can see that from my mom. Life wasn't easy, and she had to fight for her stuff to get the stuff that she wanted."

"I think that builds character. That builds you to the core, in a way. Strong and disciplined and willing to sacrifice and work hard for the things that you want to achieve in life," the World No. 6 added.

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"Wrong choices in the tiebreak" - Stefanos Tsitsipas after losing to Grigor Dimitrov in Paris Masters 2023 SF

Stefanos Tsitsipas in action at the Paris Masters

Stefanos Tsitsipas went down in his Paris Masters semifinal clash against Grigor Dimitrov in a closely contested three-set battle 3-6, 7-6(1), 6-7(3).

Reflecting on his performance, the Greek pinned it down to making the wrong choices in the final-set tiebreaker — saying he should not have slowed down his serve or experimented at such a crucial stage.

"Well, wrong choices in the tiebreak, for sure," Tsitsipas said. "I was serving so well at that point, and I decided to slow down my serve in the very beginning of the tiebreaker and come to the net, which was something I'm not used to do. It kind of felt right to do, but it's one of those things I kind of regret doing today."

Tsitsipas said he did not feel the most prepared to play the big shots on the day, adding that a passive approach failed to produce the desired results.

"It was definitely a point I could have won, including the next one," Stefanos Tsitsipas said. "So two very lousy points which gave him, like, a massive lead there, and could have done better."

"I was not very prepared to just go for big shots. I slowed down. I tried to play a little bit conservative which didn't work. There was definitely a little bit of luck involved, too," he added.