Tsitsipas: 'I grabbed Novak Djokovic like a bulldog and executed my plan'

• Tennis News
• Novak Djokovic

Stefanos Tsitsipas got closer to beat Novak Djokovic in straight sets, on 4-4 15-40 in the second set the Greek player wasted two break points in a row and then the Serb eventually prevailed in the tie-break. But Tsitsipas stayed there.

'I knew I was playing pretty good today', he said. 'So losing the second set, it was tough to deal with. You know, I had my opportunities and didn't use them. So, you know, I'm pretty used to that. I had matches like this in the past where I was close of winning the match and things didn't go my way.

Eventually, I lost the set. And I remained calm. I tried few things that I didn't try before, and I played a bit -- I played a little bit more with variety and changed the pace a bit of the ball, played deeper, played smarter.

Broke him early enough to -- yeah, I was serving well. So that break was everything. It gave me the win at the end. And serving, unbelievable. Returning pretty well here and there during the match. Yeah, best win of my career.' Tsitsipas had trained with Djokovic many times before this match.

'I had troubles in the beginning when we played couple of practice sets with him and tie-breaks', Stefanos admitted. 'But now I'm more familiar with his game. I know a bit better of the patterns that he's using on the court. So I felt confident.

I felt confident with my game. And I knew he had some issues in some particular shots in his game, I would say. So I was waiting and, like, I grabbed him like a bulldog and stuck there and executed -- yeah, I executed my plan.

I knew that at some point he's going to break, and I just patiently waited for this moment and it happened. Having the opportunity to practice plenty of times with him, and I wouldn't say read his game, but get used to the way -- the style he uses on the court helped me be confident in this match today and helped me execute my game, my plan.' ALSO READ: Novak Djokovic can reach Roger Federer's 20 Major titles - Gustavo Kuerten