Beaten by Jarry, Tsitsipas invokes a surprising motive: "I feel like I gave him the match"
Stefanos Tsitsipas was the favorite to win the title (in the absence of the circuit's major players), but fell on Thursday. Hitherto very solid, the Greek fell back into his old ways. Opposed to a Nicolas Jarry playing his cards close to his chest, the world number 8 fell into the trap.
Despite a thunderous start to the match, he was unable to make a definitive difference when he had the chance. On the other side, the Chilean never gave up, cheering himself on after almost every point. In the end, he surprised Tsitsipas twice, breaking him at the right moment each time.
The winner of a match that nobody expected him to win, he was able to raise his arms after more than 2h30 of battle (3-6, 7-5, 6-4). Incredibly, this is already his third success against a top 10 player, his second on clay (after Alcaraz in Buenos Aires and Ruud in Miami).
When asked about this astonishing defeat, Tsitsipas said very little about his opponent's performance. In a statement that may well question his humility, the Greek explained that he had played far better than his opponent: "I feel like I gave him the match in a way. I feel like I was robbed! In the sense that it was really the level of my game that dictated the match. I played some incredible tennis today, I did a great job, especially at the start of the match. I showed that I was much better at a lot of things and that I was going in the right direction.
Suddenly, however, I fell off and couldn't get back into the rhythm I had at the start. It's not an easy day for me, because I really think I should have won this match. I did a lot of things wrong and doubted myself a lot. I didn't have the courage and adaptability to take the match on myself."
Rome 
French Open 
