Between one and the other, only a year apart. However, Stefanos Tsitsipas served as a veteran in the final of the Masters 1000 in Monte Carlo against Alejandro Davidovich, who after a fabulous week collided with the presence of the number five in the world: 6-3 and 7-6(3), in 1 hour. 36m. He had surrendered the man from Malaga to pedigree rivals such as Djokovic, Goffin, Fritz or Dimitrov, but this time he could not beat the Greek, once again a winner on the Côte d’Azur, once again running for the top spot on this clay tour. Tsitsipas raised his eighth career trophy (first this season) and vindicated his pedigree: count on him for this run in May and June. It would be your candidacy.
except that one Martian called Nadal, he is the first to chain two wins in the tournament since Juan Carlos Ferrero did it from 2002 to 2003. He finished with Davidovich’s golden track, which at 22 leaves good tracks and progresses considerably in the listed, from 46th to 27th place. The reward for the Andalusian is not less, much less making sure that his tennis can give him to compete in other latitudes. 18 finals had already played the winner, and none he. However, the first-timer begins to earn the respect of his colleagues and sealed his Monegasque journey at the height of what was offered during all these days. No reproach.
“I am very happy with myself and with what I am doing, and I am going to try to continue in this line”, synthesized the Andalusian, raised in the sun –despite his surnames, Russian; Second-class Fokina– in Rincón de la Victoria (20 minutes from Málaga). “It has been an amazing experience. I have enjoyed every day and I have won important matches; I have beaten Djoko already players [Fritz] They are in the best moment of their career. All this makes me see that I can beat anyone”, continued the runner-up. “Before, I watched these finals on television,” he had previously said at the foot of the track.
At noon, sun, heat and blue sky in Monte Carlo, supervising everything from the Alberto de Mónaco box. From up there, a privileged view, the authority could perfectly verify the perfect parable of the Tsitsipas ball, a tennis player with a thousand resources who tends to cheat, in a sense of virtue. The same goes that comes emotionally; the same arches that flattens the trajectory; it seems that he has run out of deposit, but physically he always returns; and his hit, apparently tame from the start, is loaded with speed and spin as he gains a couple of meters and, when it seems that he is going to go over the line and go long, the ball plummets, bounces, enters and shoots out.
Enjoy in the maze
The Greek has one of the most difficult shots to decipher and Davidovich immediately verified it, starting in the same way that he had closed the semifinal the day before: good inertia, good tempo and coldness in the rally. Until then, all good. He treated the Athenian (23 years old) from the start and even gave the first acceleration of the afternoon, break to the third game, but quickly received a withering response. Tsitsipas hit back at full throttle and began to open the track with his forehand and backhand, compass in both hands, going from initial idle to sixth gear in the blink of an eye. That’s how he spends them on the ground and it worked that well last year.
Without Rafael Nadal on the board and with Novak Djokovic purging his own decisions, the Serb trying to re-enlist, he is, on paper, the biggest threat heading into this clay tour. master the record earthling and enjoy inside the labyrinth; he has the grounds, he understands the codes and he has the ability to remake himself, so that he appears again as a serious candidate for everything in this spring time of the season. A year ago he also triumphed in the Principality, then he shone in Barcelona – he came to have a match point in the final against Nadal – and finally came close to capturing glory at Roland Garros, but Djokovic turned it around.
This Sunday he slid wonderfully and, having overcome the slight start-up scare, he imposed his authority. He replied, crimped the first set and warned the man from Malaga, who suddenly found himself with a roller on top. Still, Davidovich argued with him. Despite giving up serve at the opening of the follow-up, still a bit groggy from the previous shake, he pulled himself together and reordered; he contained the Greek, recharged the mental tank and challenged him: double break to balance (3-3 and 5-5) and Show. the soul of DJ, haranguing the stands and liking each other, and from suffering he passed to fun. “Fo-ki, Fo-ki, Fo-ki!”, cheered the public. And if people wanted to march more, he was not going to miss it.
Build a ‘whole’
It so happens that from leaving his soul so much he reached the tiebreaker in the reserve, and there Tsitsipas, accurate to give the coup de grâce –those comings and goings…–, resized himself and appropriated the trophy again. There are already two in a row in the Principality and, once again, a declaration of intent: facing Roland Garros, you have to count on him, covered in sand in the final frame; Davidovich also ended up on the ground, who tried to save the last pitch of the tournament with an aerial foreshortening. He struggled from start to finish, but the Greek gathered more merits.
Increasingly focused and less obfuscated, aware that defeat is routine in the elite and not the other way around, Davidovich is gaining ground and learning to channel above-average creativity. And the turn is noticeable in his speech. If before he stressed that his bet was to be a generator of great points for YouTube videos, today he concentrates on becoming a real tennis player, with capital letters, without losing the essence but dedicated to building a everything.
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