United Cup

Thursday, 4 January 2024

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Team Greece

Captain Petros Tsitsipas

Stefanos Tsitsipas

Maria Sakkari

Despina Papamichail

Press Conference


Team Greece - 3

Team Canada - 0

THE MODERATOR: Team Greece, congrats on reaching the quarterfinals. We would like to hear from the captain, Petros, your experience today. Talk through the two matches of Stefanos and Maria, and of course you also won the mixed.

CAPTAIN PETROS TSITSIPAS: Well, it's pretty late, so I'm going to keep it short, but yeah, as you can see, it was a very successful day for us. We are all super happy and excited to be in the quarterfinals, once again.

Yeah, Stef played well. Maria played great. Me and Despina played unexpectedly very good as well. So the whole team has a good level, good vibes with each other. We're going to keep it up for the next week.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Stefanos, well done. Congratulations on the win. Obvious question: How did the body pull up your first singles match of the year? A great result, straight-set win. How do you feel after that performance and how has the body pulled up?

STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: Crikey, mate, I'm feeling amazing.

Q. That's all we want to hear. Thank you.

STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: Perfect.

Q. Picking up on that, if you had to play twice, singles and mixed, two days from now, is it possible to say you could do that or too early to tell?

STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: I am ready for anything. Nothing is too much; nothing is too little. I will do anything that I need.

Q. Maria, a comment on your win over Leylah today. What were you most happy with?

MARIA SAKKARI: I think the level was very high from both of us. We both played a great match. It's great to start the season with a very competitive match against her. I just felt very good on the court, especially having the team on my side.

It's just amazing to be back in the quarterfinals here.

Q. And your thoughts on playing Angie next?

MARIA SAKKARI: I saw her the other day. She looks very happy. Obviously she has the experience. Now she has an extra strength after becoming a mom. It's going to be very tough. You know, she's very, as I said, very experienced. It's going to be a challenge, but I'm ready for it.

Q. Stef, going up against Zverev, lead 9-4, but you've had a lot of close battles. Your thoughts on that match.

STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: Which one? What happened? 4-9? What is 4-9?

Q. You lead him 9-4, I think, in your head-to-head battle. But you've had a lot of close matches. Just some comments on that upcoming match.

STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: The matches are always close. He's a great competitor. He's been there for more years than any other player in my generation. He definitely knows what's up and what's going on.

He's at a good phase of his career. He just came back a few months ago, so he's looking good, he's looking sharp. For me that's another occasion to step up my game and show some good quality tennis.

Q. Congratulations for the wins today. I wanted to ask, as a team, this is probably the best Greece has performed in United Cup all together. How proud are you as a team collectively to get the clean sweep today over Canada?

DESPINA PAPAMICHAIL: Yeah, I mean, we are really proud and happy. Yesterday was a tough day, but we stick together as a team. We all give our best.

We have the great examples, Stefanos and Maria. They played amazing today. We couldn't do less. We fought. Petros and I gave a great level, as well, and we are extremely happy for that.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
140103-1-1063 2024-01-03 13:39:00 GMT

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