"Federer and Nadal were the ideals of tennis" says Julia Apostoli, mother of Stefanos Tsitsipas

The mother of Stefanos Tsitsipas considers Federer and Nadal the ideals of tennis and she is not ready to say the same for Medvedev and Tsitsipas.

Medvedev and Tsitsipas are part of the next-gen of great players although neither is on the level that Nadal or Federer have been. That list is fairly short and it probably only has Novak Djokovic on it and that is why she considers the duo to be the ideals of tennis.

"Nadal and Federer did not have such a conflict. No offence will be said, but Roger and Nadal were the ideals of tennis in their time. Not yet ready to say that Medvedev and Tsitsipas are ideal players. There is room to grow."

Tsitsipas and Medvedev had had an interesting dynamic since arriving to the Tour with one very notable spat on the court in Cincinnati. They ironed out their differences since then but there is always some additional edge when they play. Apostoli doesn't think there is anything special there:

"I don't think there's anything special. Daniil is such a person by nature: if he doesn’t like something, he won’t keep it in himself for a long time. He expresses his opinion on many things. Styopa is more of an introvert, although it's hard to tell from him. He had to become an extrovert by virtue of his profession. He has no such negative feelings towards anyone."