The Big 3 are MIA, which means major opportunity says Stefanos Tsitsipas.
The second-seeded Tsitsipas says contenders have room to move in a Miami Open field devoid of world No. 1 Novak Djokovic, 2019 champion Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.
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“Well, it is an opportunity, I won’t lie,” Tsitsipas told the media in Miami. “It is an opportunity. There are plenty of good guys that aren’t in the top five that can play good tennis, as well. I can see them as a threat, too.
“I don’t see myself as the favorite of the tournament. I like to enter a tournament with low expectations and build my way through. I have a pretty I would consider difficult road despite all of this. I have matches that I will really have to fight hard and give out my best. With a lack of spectators, it’s going to feel a little bit different.”
Tsitsipas built an early lead against Alexander Zverev in the Acapulco final on Saturday night before bowing 6-4, 7-6 to drop to 5-8 in career ATP finals.
The 2019 ATP Finals champion said he let an opportunity slip in Mexico and after a day at the beach and a couple of cold Coronas, he hopes to learn from it.
“Well, I haven’t been feeling my greatest. I knew it was an opportunity for me,” Tsitsipas said of the Acapulco final. “We played, I would say, a decent final. I had so many opportunities. I even up to this day tend to think about this final because it could have been a completely different outcome and a result for me.
“But I think I can only learn from it. It is something that I cannot go back and fix, so I might as well just embrace it and move on stronger and take that as an example, as a lesson that I wouldn’t want to happen again in the near future or in any other final that I might play.”
The road to the Miami final will be challenging for Tsitsipas, who lost to Denis Shapovalov 7-6 in the third set of the 2019 Miami Open. The Athens-born all-courter will face either former US Open finalist Kevin Anderson or Thiago Monteiro in his Miami opener. The No. 6-seeded Shapovalov, Kei Nishikori, Milos Raonic, Alex de Minaur and Ugo Humbert are other high seeds in Tsitsipas’ quarter of the draw.
“Generally speaking, yeah, it’s an opportunity. I can see it that way,” Tsitsipas said. “Let’s hope for the best. Let’s hope I can take advantage of this and add some points. Miami two years ago, didn’t offer a lot of points to my ranking, so I think I made the fourth round. That is definitely a better opportunity for me to do better this year.”
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