Stefanos Tsitsipas has crowned the Spanish legend Rafael Nadal as the greatest athlete of all time. At the end of a disappointing season in which he slipped out of the Top-10, the Greek is in Turin together with Grigor Dimitrov as he is one of the two reserves ready to take the place of the eight protagonists of the ATP Finals, in case of injury.
Between one training session and another, the ATP No.11 was interviewed by Italiano canale 433 to choose the best athlete in the history of sport, having to say one preference at a time between the two proposals until arriving at the definitive choice. The 26-year-old began by choosing Carlos Alcaraz over another young soccer star, the Englishman of Real Madrid Jude Bellingham. He then preferred Roger Federer to the 21-year-old Spanish tennis player and 4-time Grand Slam champion, who, in turn, preferred NBA legend Michael Jordan. After Muhammad Ali and Cristiano Ronaldo, it was the turn of the 22-time Grand Slam champion and close to retiring Nadal, whom Tsitsipas crowned as GOAT, choosing him in the two challenges with Lebron James and rival Novak Djokovic.
A few weeks ago, the Greek champion also talked about the new format applied by ATP to some ATP Masters 1000, extending them to two weeks. If in recent days it was Andy Roddick who took a stand on the matter, bluntly defining them as a stupid thing that he deeply hates, it was up to Tsitsipas to talk about this new format.
Tsitsipas attacked ATP which in fact also brought Madrid, Rome and Shanghai to this format and will also get there in the Canadian Open and Cincinnati Open. The Greek tennis player who dropped out of the top ten and did not qualify for the ATP Finals in Turin certainly does not mince his words, also receiving praise from Andy Roddick himself.
Stefanos said how the two weeks of the ATP Masters 1000 have become a burden and the quality of tennis has decreased because there is no time for recovery and training, having to constantly face matches. Emphasizing how tennis players do not have space to work off the court.
“It is curious that the ATP has committed to making this change in the calendar without first knowing if it works. The Paris-Bercy tournament was fun and easy to follow since it took place in one week. As it should be. If the goal was to lighten the calendar, extending the Masters 1000 to two weeks is not the best idea. Sometimes, it seems like they are fixing what was not broken,” he said.