Stefanos Tsitsipas congratulates pole-vaulter Emmanouil Karalis on silver medal at European Athletics Indoor Championships

Stefanos Tsitsipas congratulated his compatriot Emmanouil Karalis on clinching the silver medal at the recently concluded European Athletics Indoor Championships in Istanbul.

Karalis is a pole-vaulter who currently holds the national record in the sport with a jump of 5.86m. He won a few medals in the junior divisions, including the gold at the 2016 European Athletics Youth Championships in Tbilisi. The 23-year-old narrowly missed out on a medal at the Tokyo Olympics as he finished fourth.

Karalis competed at the European Indoor Championships in Istanbul last week and jumped 5.75m in the qualifying stages to reach the final round. He was then one of four pole-vaulters to jump 5.8m and was awarded the silver medal alongside Poland's Piotr Lisek.

Stefanos Tsitsipas took to social media to congratulate Karalis on his achievement. The ATP World No. 3 shared an image of the 23-year-old on his Instagram stories, with his caption reading:

"Our boy is making us proud."

Stefanos Tsitsipas' Instagram story

Stefanos Tsitsipas is the second seed at the Indian Wells Masters

The Greek in action at the 2023 ABN AMRO Open in Rotterdam

Stefanos Tsitsipas will be seeded second at the upcoming Indian Wells Masters following the withdrawal of Novak Djokovic. The Greek will be among the favorites to win the Masters 1000 tournament, considering his performances so far this season.

The 24-year-old has a 13-2 win-loss record for the season so far. He started 2023 by helping Greece reach the semifinals of the United Cup, winning all four of his singles matches.

He then competed at the Australian Open as the third seed. The Greek beat the likes of 15th seed Jannik Sinner and 18th seed Karen Khachanov to reach his second Grand Slam final, where he went down fighting 6-3, 7-6(4), 7-6(5) against Novak Djokovic.

After a couple of wins at the Davis Cup, he competed at the ABN AMRO Open in Rotterdam in February. This time, Jannik Sinner turned the tables on him with a straight-sets victory in the Round of 16.

Tsitsipas had to opt out of the Mexican Open due to a shoulder injury he sustained after the Australian Open. He is looking to gain full fitness ahead of the Indian Wells Masters, where his best performance was reaching the quarterfinals in 2021.