MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Stefanos Tsitsipas hopes to bring the Samurai spirit to his game this season and is determined to show more consistency as the Greek gears up for the Australian Open.
Tsitsipas was spotted wearing the jersey of Japan’s national football team during practice in Melbourne and when asked about it the world number four said he was interested in learning about different cultures.
“The Japanese culture is a very modest, very fair culture in their society … It has intrigued me in a way to follow it more closely, to learn from it,” the third seed told reporters on Saturday.
“I think there’s so many lessons you can take – even tennis players … The fighting spirit behind the Samurais, all these fighters that led Japan to its modern society today.
“Not many people know about the Japanese culture. I’ve been very interested in learning more about it. The Japanese jersey represents me at its fullest.”
Tsitsipas reached the semi-finals in Melbourne last year but failed to move past the fourth round at the other three Grand Slams, going out at the first hurdle at the U.S. Open.
The 24-year-old said he has set goals for himself in 2023, and that he cannot “run a thousand miles an hour” and expect things to improve.
“I need to stay in the game, I need to stay consistent over the course of the next 12 months,” he said.
“I need to get back on the court when these losses are going to come at some point, I need to constantly be in the mindset of bouncing back stronger. That will be the most challenging this year.”
(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
