Tennis star Stefanos Tsitsipas blames sleeping pills and naps for French Open defeat
Stefanos Tsitsipas cut a frustrated figure in his quarterfinal match against Carlos Alcaraz.
By Ben Church, CNN
(CNN) — World No. 5 Stefanos Tsitsipas says he regrets taking sleeping pills after complaining about feeling sluggish in his French Open quarterfinal defeat against Carlos Alcaraz on Tuesday.
The Greek star was beaten in straight sets – 6-2 6-1 7-6 – by the world No. 1 in a one-sided match on Court Philippe Chatrie.
While praising Alcaraz for his “great” performance, Tsitsipas says he was hampered by his own preparation and disrupted sleep cycle.
“One thing that I’m going to try to avoid in the future is to have melatonin pills [sleeping pills] and naps before matches because it clearly doesn’t seem to be working,” Tsitsipas told reporters.
Like the US Open and Australian Open, Roland-Garros has regularly featured night sessions which, despite generating a great atmosphere under the lights, means matches can finish past midnight.
“I had some late-night sessions. Not super late, but late enough for me to kind of have my sleep schedule ruined, in a way,” Tsitsipas added.
“Sleep is a very vital, important thing, and recovery is the most important thing when competing and playing big slams like this.
“I’ve made the mistake in the past […] and I had the exact same score as I did in those first two sets.”
Alcaraz dominated the quarterfinal from the off, breezing through the first two sets with Tsitsipas struggling to have any impact on the game.
Tsitsipas made five double faults, compared to the Spaniard’s one, and had 10 more unforced errors than his opponent throughout the match.
To his credit, the 24-year-old Tsitsipas rallied in the third set but the damage had already been done.
“It wasn’t really that much fun out there in the first two sets. I felt completely off, kind of like sleeping in a way,” he said.
“I just wish it never happens again. It sucks.”
Titanic semifinal
Alcaraz will next face Novak Djokovic in the semifinals in a highly anticipated clash on Friday. The pair have only played once before in a match won by the Spaniard.
This will be the first time they have faced each other in a grand slam and both go into the match in brilliant form.
“We both are playing a great level, and as I said before, if you want to be the best, you have to beat the best. So I’m really looking for that match. I’m going to enjoy it,” Alcaraz told reporters.
“It’s amazing to make history, you know, playing a semifinal with such a legend like Novak. So it’s gonna be a great match for me.”
The-CNN-Wire
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