Julia Sergeyevna Apostoli, the mother of Stefanos Tsitsipas, spoke to the media in Kazakhstan and, among other things, mentioned her son's fight with Nick Kyrgios.
The feud between the two tennis players from the Wimbledon match continues to preoccupy journalists and Sergeyevna was asked about it. She was particularly revealing as she said that the Greek-Australian is the only one who manages to get Tsitsipas lose his mind.
"The only person who confuses Stefanos is Nick Kyrgios. He is the only one who brings him out of himself," she said.
"In the Wimbledon match, Kyrgios decided to ignore the general rules of sports. The match became very strange and nervous because he was playing 'dirty' tennis. Stefanos doesn't play like that. He completely lost his temper due to the behaviour of his opponent and lost the match without being any worse on the court," Sergeyevna added.
Meanwhile, Novak Djokovic claimed his 90th career ATP Tour title by cruising past Stefanos Tsitsipas in the final of the Astana Open in Kazakhstan.
The Serb needed just 76 minutes to win 6-3 6-4 and cement his place at November’s season-ending ATP Finals in Turin, Italy.
Victory at the Astana Open was Djokovic’s second consecutive title, after having won the Tel Aviv Open in Israel the previous week.
The back-to-back triumphs are an impressive return to the Tour for Djokovic, who missed almost three months and the entire North American hard-court swing, including the US Open, due to his unvaccinated status.
The 21-time grand slam champion is fifth all-time in Tour titles won, behind Jimmy Connors, Roger Federer, Ivan Lendl and Rafael Nadal.
Despite dropping to seventh in the world rankings after his absence from tournaments in North America, Djokovic will no doubt go into the prestigious ATP Finals as favorite.
“I’m just very grateful and blessed to be able to play this well at this stage of my life,” Djokovic told the ATP after the match.
“You know, 35 is not the same as 25, but I think the experience probably in these kinds of big matches and big occasions helps as well to approach mentally in the right way.”
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