This week on the ATP Tennis Podcast…
STEFANOS TSITSIPAS ON HOW HE EVALUATES HIS DEVELOPMENT – “I look at things such as finals, how many I was able to play this year, how consistent I am as far as going deep into tournaments and if I’m able to go deep in those tournaments. If I’m able to constantly, week-after-week, being able to be there, this is a good sign for me.”
KAREN KHACHANOV ON HIS IMPROVED FORM IN 2022 – “I would say that I’m on the rise. I was playing more and more consistently in the second part of the year, and I had the big run at the US Open. It feels great that all of the hard work is starting to pay off and I’m playing better and better tennis.”
JANNIK SINNER ON THE UPS AND DOWNS OF TOUR LIFE – “It was a tough year for me because in many tournaments I had some little problems. I had to retire many times, but in another way in other tournaments I played many matches, played more consistent tennis with many quarter-finals and Round of 16s. So [that was] unfortunate, but in other ways I can be proud.”
GRIGOR DIMITROV ON CONTINUING TO LEARN – “What I want is still to improve. I’ve done 13 off-seasons, so I think I know the ins and outs pretty good, but I always like to re-assess and think what is our goal this time, and maybe even try some new things.”
REILLY OPELKA ON HIS MENTALITY – “My mentality I would say is analytical and that’s how I’ve always been wired. It’s about finding the right balance and not being too analytical to where it becomes detrimental but having a clear identity of who you are as a tennis player is one of the most important things in the game.”
MARIN CILIC ON STILL BEING ABLE TO PLAY AT THE TOP – “I would say that in general the tennis has not run away from me. It’s just the feeling of putting everything together and generally when you watch tennis at a high level it seems quite simple. Then you come to some stages where it become more difficult to put those things together, but for me I never doubted that I’d find playing good tennis.”
DAN EVANS ON WHAT HE NEEDS TO DO TO TAKE THE NEXT STEPS – “I look at these tournaments differently to a lot of these top guys. I have to have a lot of things fall right but reaching the Montreal semi-finals shows I can get to the latter stages of these tournaments if I do certain things and play the right tennis. I can improve and that’s why we’re on the practice courts each day and it’s just about tinkering.”
ANDY MURRAY ON TRYING TO FOCUS ON THE HERE AND NOW – “When you’ve been at the top of the game and got to No. 1, that’s always where your reference point is in terms of how you’re doing. So in that respect it’s been pretty average, but at the beginning of the year I was ranked No. 135 in the world and now I’m in the 40s. That’s a big jump, so it’s been OK this year.”
PLUS MIOMIR KECMANOVIC IS THE FINAL PLAYER THIS YEAR TO TELL US HOW HE LIKES TO TRAVEL
– Podcast presented by Seb Lauzier
– Interviews by Lee Goodall, Ursin Caderas, Chris Bowers and Seb Lauzier
– Opelka and Kecmanovic features by ATP Uncovered
Source Tennis – ATP World Tour
